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'^.ftyn^^MO.'S  ^,   Hy*:i/lfi^7'SfJ^4n„f 


%^yry/lt/i>m'<y'.  't^^H^ArrS^uKT^^. 


AFTKR    THR   ORIGINAL    DRAWING    BY    FERDINAND    BAG. 

**He  had  thought  zvt'th  deep  anxiety  of  this  child,  of 
which  he  was  the  father." 

(See  page  J43.) 


MONT  ORIOL 

OR 

A  ROMANCE  OF  AUVERGNE 


^    NOyEL 


By 
GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


VOL.  VIII. 


SAINT     DUNSTAN     SOCIETY 
Akron,   Ohio 


Copyright,  1903,  by 
M.  WALTER  DUNNE 

Entered  at   Stationers'  Hall^  London 


[ 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 

Chapter  I. 

PACB 

THE   SPA         

Chapter  II. 

THE   DISCOVERY 26 

Chapter  III. 

bargaining       ... 

43 

Chapter  IV. 

A    TEST    AND   AN    AVOWAL 5. 

Chapter  V. 

DEVELOPMENTS g 

Chapter  VI. 

ON   THE    BRINK g 

Chapter  VII. 

ATTAINMENT       •...,., 

Chapter  VIII. 

ORGANIZATION 

Chapter  IX. 

THE  SPA  AGAIN   ... 

J  74 

Chapter  X. 

GONTRAN'S  CHOICE ^ 

(ix) 


3f  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

Chapter  XI.  pace 

A   MUTUAL   UNDERSTANDING 239 

Chapter  XII. 

A   BETROTHAL -      269 

Chapter  XIII. 

PAUL   CHANGES   HIS   MIND 29 1 

Chapter  XIV. 

christiane's  via  crucis 306 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


"he  had  thought  with  deep  anxiety  of  this  child, 

OF  which  he  was  the  father  "      .       .        Frontispiece 
"she  SPRANG  WILDLY  TO  HER  feet.      IT  WAS  HE  I"      .       1  5O 


MONT    ORIOL 


T 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  Spa 

•HE    first   bathers,  the    early    risers, 

who    had     already    been     at    the 

water,    were   walking   slowly,    in 

pairs  or  alone,  under  the  huge  trees 

along  the  stream  which  rushes  down 

^cL^     the  gorges  of  Enval. 

Others  arrived  from  the  village,  and 
entered  the  establishment  in  a  hurried 
fashion.  It  was  a  spacious  building, 
the  ground  floor  being  reserved  for 
thermal  treatment,  while  the  first  story 
served  as  a  casino,  cafi,  and  billiard-room. 
Since  Doctor  Bonnefille  had  discovered  in 
the  heart  of  Enval  the  great  spring,  baptized 
by  him  the  Bonnefille  Spring,  some  proprietors  of  the 
country  and  the  surrounding  neighborhood,  timid 
speculators,  had  decided  to  erect  in  the  midst  of  this 
superb  glen  of  Auvergne,  savage  and  gay  withal, 
planted  with  walnut  and  giant  chestnut  trees,  a  vast 
house  for  every  kind   of  use,  serving   equally  for  the 

8    G.  tie  M.— I  (  I  ) 


2  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

purpose  of  cure  and  of  pleasure,  in  which  mineral 
waters,  douches,  and  baths  were  sold  below,  and 
beer,  liqueurs,  and  music  above. 

A  portion  of  the  ravine  along  the  stream  had  been 
inclosed,  to  constitute  the  park  indispensable  to  every 
spa;  and  three  walks  had  been  made,  one  nearly 
straight,  and  the  other  two  zigzag.  At  the  end  of 
the  first  gushed  out  an  artificial  spring  detached  from 
the  parent  spring,  and  bubbling  into  a  great  basin  of 
cement,  sheltered  by  a  straw  roof,  under  the  care  of 
an  impassive  woman,  whom  everyone  called  "Marie" 
in  a  familiar  sort  of  way.  This  calm  Auvergnat,  who 
wore  a  little  cap  always  as  white  as  snow,  and  a  big 
apron,  perfectly  clean  at  all  times,  which  concealed 
her  working-dress,  rose  up  slowly  as  soon  as  she 
saw  a  bather  coming  along  the  road  in  her  direction. 

The  bather  would  smile  with  a  melancholy  air, 
drink  the  water,  and  return  her  the  glass,  saying, 
"Thanks,  Marie."  Then  he  would  turn  on  his  heel 
and  walk  away.  And  Marie  sat  down  again  on  her 
straw  chair  to  wait  for  the  next  comer. 

They  were  not,  however,  very  numerous.  The 
Enval  station  had  just  been  six  years  open  for  in- 
valids, and  scarcely  could  count  more  patients  at  the 
end  of  these  six  years  than  it  had  at  the  start.  About 
fifty  had  come  there,  attracted  more  than  anything 
else  by  the  beauty  of  the  district,  by  the  charm  of 
this  little  village  lost  under  enormous  trees,  whose 
twisted  trunks  seemed  as  big  as  the  houses,  and  by 
the  reputation  of  the  gorges  at  the  end  of  this  strange 
glen  which  opened  on  the  great  plain  of  Auvergne 
and  ended  abruptly  at  the  foot  of  the  high  mountain 
bristling  with  craters  of  unknown  age  —  a  savage  and 


MONTORIOI.  J 

magnificent  crevasse,  full  of  rocks  fallen  or  threaten- 
ing, from  which  rushed  a  stream  that  cascaded  over 
giant  stones,  forming  a  little  lake  in  front  of  each. 

This  thermal  station  had  been  brought  to  birth  as 
they  all  are,  with  a  pamphlet  on  the  spring  by  Doctor 
Bonnefille.  He  opened  with  a  eulogistic  description, 
in  a  majestic  and  sentimental  style,  of  the  Alpine  se- 
ductions of  the  neighborhood.  He  selected  only 
adjectives  which  convey  a  vague  sense  of  delightful- 
ness  and  enjoyment  —  those  which  produce  effect 
without  committing  the  writer  to  any  material  state- 
ment. All  the  surroundings  were  picturesque,  filled 
with  splendid  sites  or  landscapes  whose  graceful  out- 
lines aroused  soft  emotions.  All  the  promenades  in 
the  vicinity  possessed  a  remarkable  originality,  such 
as  would  strike  the  imagination  of  artists  and  tour- 
ists. Then  abruptly,  without  any  transition,  he 
plunged  into  the  therapeutic  qualities  of  the  Bonnefille 
Spring,  bicarbonate,  sodium,  mixed,  lithineous,  ferrugi- 
nous, et  cetera,  et  cetera,  capable  of  curing  every  disease. 
He  had,  moreover,  enumerated  them  under  this  head- 
ing: Chronic  affections  or  acute  specially  associated  with 
Enval.  And  the  list  of  affections  associated  with  Enval 
was  long  —  long  and  varied,  consoling  for  invalids  of 
every  kind.  The  pamphlet  concluded  with  some  in- 
formation of  practical  utility,  the  cost  of  lodgings, 
commodities,  and  hotels  —  for  three  hotels  had  sprung 
up  simultaneously  with  the  casino-medical  establish- 
ment. These  were  the  Hotel  Splendid,  quite  new, 
built  on  the  slope  of  the  glen  looking  down  on  the 
baths;  the  Thermal  Hotel,  an  old  inn  with  a  new 
coat  of  plaster;  and  the  Hotel  Vidaillet,  formed  very 
simply    by    the    purchase    of  three    adjoining   houses, 


4  WORKS  OF  GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 

which  had  been  altered  so  as  to  convert  them 
into  one. 

Then,  all  at  once,  two  new  doctors  had  installed 
themselves  in  the  locality  one  morning,  without  any- 
one well  knowing  how  they  came,  for  at  spas  doc- 
tors seem  to  dart  up  out  of  the  springs,  like  gas-jets. 
These  were  Doctor  Honorat,  a  native  of  Auvergne, 
and  Doctor  Latonne,  of  Paris.  A  fierce  antagonism 
soon  burst  out  between  Doctor  Latonne  and  Doctor 
Bonnefille,  while  Doctor  Honorat,  a  big,  clean-shaven 
man,  smiling  and  pliant,  stretched  forth  his  right 
hand  to  the  first,  and  his  left  hand  to  the  second, 
and  remained  on  good  terms  with  both.  But  Doctor 
Bonnefille  was  master  of  the  situation,  with  his  title 
of  Inspector  of  the  Waters  and  of  the  thermal  estab- 
lishment of  Enval-les-Bains. 

This  title  was  his  strength  and  the  establishment 
his  chattel.  There  he  spent  his  days,  and  even  his 
nights,  it  was  said.  A  hundred  times,  in  the  morning, 
he  would  go  from  his  house  which  was  quite  near 
in  the  village  to  his  consultation-study  fixed  at  the 
right-hand  side  facing  the  entrance  to  the  thermal 
baths.  Lying  in  wait  there,  like  a  spider  in  his  web, 
he  watched  the  comings  and  goings  of  the  invalids, 
inspecting  his  own  patients  with  a  severe  eye  and 
those  of  the  other  doctors  with  a  look  of  fury.  He 
questioned  everybody  almost  in  the  style  of  a  ship's 
captain,  and  he  struck  terror  into  newcomers,  unless 
it  happened  that  he  made  them   smile. 

This  day,  as  he  arrived  with  rapid  steps,  which 
made  the  big  flaps  of  his  old  frock  coat  fly  up  like  a 
pair  of  wings,  he  was  stopped  suddenly  by  a  voice 
exclaiming:  "Doctor!" 


MONT    ORIOL  5 

He  turned  round.  His  thin  face,  full  of  big  ugly 
wrinkles,  and  looking  quite  black  at  the  end  with  a 
grizzled  beard  rarely  cut,  made  an  effort  to  smile; 
and  he  took'  off  the  tall  silk  hat,  shabby,  stained,  and 
greasy,  that  covered  his  thick  pepper-and-salt  head  of 
hair — "pepper  and  soiled,"  as  his  rival.  Doctor  La- 
tonne,  put  it.  Then  he  advanced  a  step,  made  a 
bow,  and   murmured: 

"Good  morning,  Marquis  —  are  you  quite  well 
this  morning?" 

The  Marquis  de  Ravenel,  a  little  man  well  pre- 
served, stretched  out  his  hand  to  the  doctor,  as  he 
replied: 

"Very  well,  doctor,  very  well,  or,  at  least,  not 
ill.  1  am  always  suflFering  from  my  kidneys;  but  in- 
deed I  am  better,  much  better;  and  1  am  as  yet  only 
at  my  tenth  bath.  Last  year  I  did  not  obtain  the 
effect  until  the  sixteenth,  you  recollect.''" 

"Yes,  perfectly." 

"But  it  is  not  about   this  1  want   to   talk   to  you. 
My   daughter   has   arrived   this   morning,    and   1   wish 
to    have    a    chat    with    you    about    her    case    first    of 
all,  because   my   son-in-law,  William    Andermatt,   the 
banker — " 

"Yes,  1   know." 

"My  son-in-law  has  a  letter  of  recommendation 
addressed  to  Doctor  Latonne.  As  for  me,  1  have  no 
confidence  except  in  you,  and  I  beg  of  you  to  have 
the  kindness  to  come  up  to  the  hotel  before — you 
understand  ?  1  prefer  to  say  things  to  you  candidly. 
Are  you  free  at  the  present  moment  ? " 

Doctor  BonnefiUe  had  put  on  his  hat  again,  and 
looked  excited  and   troubled.     He   answered    at  once: 


6  WORKS  OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

"Yes,  I  shall  be  free  immediately.  Do  you  wish 
me  to  accompany  you?" 

"Why,  certainly." 

And,  turning  their  backs  on  the  establishment, 
they  directed  their  steps  up  a  circular  walk  leading  to 
the  door  of  the  Hotel  Splendid,  built  on  the  slope  of 
the  mountain  so  as  to  otTer  a  view  of  it  to  travelers. 

They  made  their  way  to  the  drawing-room  in  the 
first  story  adjoining  the  apartments  occupied  by  the 
Ravenel  and  Andermatt  families,  and  the  Marquis 
left  the  doctor  by  himself  while  he  went  to  look  for 
his  daughter. 

He  came  back  with  her  presently.  She  was  a  fair 
young  woman,  small,  pale,  very  pretty,  whose  fea- 
tures seemed  like  those  of  a  child,  while  her  blue 
eyes,  boldly  fixed,  cast  on  people  a  resolute  look 
that  gave  an  alluring  impression  of  firmness  and  a 
peculiar  charm  to  this  refined  and  fascinating  crea- 
ture. There  was  not  much  the  matter  with  her — 
vague  languors,  sadnesses,  bursts  of  tears  without 
apparent  cause,  angry  fits  for  which  there  seemed 
no  season,  and  lastly  anaemia.  She  craved  above  all 
for  a  child,  which  had  been  vainly  looked  forward  to 
since  her   marriage,   more  than  two  years  before. 

Doctor  Bonnefille  declared  that  the  waters  of  Enval 
would  be  effectual,  and  proceeded  forthwith  to  write 
a  prescription.  The  doctor's  prescriptions  had  al- 
ways the  formidable  aspect  of  an  indictment.  On  a 
big  white  sheet  of  paper  such  as  schoolboys  use,  his 
directions  exhibited  themselves  in  numerous  para- 
graphs of  two  or  three  lines  each,  in  an  irregular 
handwriting,  bristling  with  letters  resembling  spikes. 
And   the  potions,  the   pills,  the   powders,  which  were 


MONT    ORIOL  -7 

to  be  taken  fasting  in  the  morning,  at  midday,  and  in 
the  evening,  followed  in  ferocious-looking  characters. 
One  of  these  prescriptions  might  read: 

"Inasmuch  as  M.  X.  is  affected  with  a  chronic  malady,  incurable 
and  mortal,  he  will  take,  first,  sulphate  of  quinine,  which  will  render 
him  deaf,  and  will  make  him  lose  his  memory;  secondly,  bromide  of 
potassium,  which  will  destroy  his  stomach,  weaken  all  his  faculties, 
cover  him  with  pimples,  and  make  his  breath  foul;  thirdly,  salicylate  of 
soda,  whose  curative  effects  have  not  yet  been  proved,  but  which 
seems  to  lead  to  a  terrible  and  speedy  death  the  patient  treated  by  this 
remedy.  And  concurrently,  chloral,  which  causes  insanity,  and  bella- 
donna, which  attacks  the  eyes;  all  vegetable  solutions  and  all  mineral 
compositions  which  corrupt  the  blood,  corrode  the  organs,  consume 
the  bones,  and  destroy  by  medicine  those  whom    disease    has  spared." 

For  a  long  time  he  went  on  writing  on  the  front 
page  and  on  the  back,  then  signed  it  just  as  a  judge 
might  have  signed  a  death-sentence. 

The  young  woman,  seated  opposite  to  him,  stared 
at  him  with  an  inclination  to  laugh  that  made  the 
corners  of  her  lips  rise  up. 

When,  with  a  low  bow,  he  had  taken  himself  off, 
she  snatched  up  the  paper  blackened  with  ink,  rolled 
it  up  into  a  ball,  and  flung  it  into  the  fire.  Then, 
breaking  into  a  hearty  laugh,  said: 

"Oh!  father,  where  did  you  discover  this  fossil? 
Why,  he  looks  for  all  the  world  like  an  old-clothes- 
man. Oh!  how  clever  of  you  to  dig  up  a  physician 
that  might  have  lived  before  the  Revolution!  Oh! 
how  funny  he  is,  aye,  and  dirty  —  ah,  yes!  dirty — I 
believe  really  he  has  stained  my  penholder." 

The  door  opened,  and  M.  Andermatt's  voice  was 
heard  saying,  "Come  in,  doctor." 

And  Doctor  Latonne  appeared.  Erect,  slender,  cir- 
cumspect, comparatively  young,  attired   in  a  fashion- 


8  WORKS  OF  GUY  DE  MAUPASSANT 

able  morning-coat,  and  holding  in  his  hand  the  high 
silk  hat  which  distinguishes  the  practicing  doctor  in 
the  greater  part  of  the  thermal  stations  of  Auvergne, 
the  physician  from  Paris,  without  beard  or  mustache, 
resembled  an  actor  who  had  retired  into  the  country. 

The  Marquis,  confounded,  did  not  know  what  to 
say  or  do,  while  his  daughter  put  her  handkerchief 
to  her  mouth  to  keep  herself  from  bursting  out 
laughing  in  the  newcomer's  face.  He  bowed  with 
an  air  of  self-confidence,  and  at  a  sign  from  the 
young  woman  took  a  seat. 

M.  Andermatt,  who  followed  him,  minutely  de- 
tailed for  him  his  wife's  condition,  her  illnesses, 
together  with  their  accompanying  symptoms,  the 
opinions  of  the  physicians  consulted  in  Paris,  and 
then  his  own  opinion  based  on  special  grounds 
which  he  explained  in  technical  language. 

He  was  a  man  still  quite  youthful,  a  Jew,  who 
devoted  himself  to  financial  transactions.  He  en- 
tered into  all  sorts  of  speculations,  and  displayed  in  all 
matters  of  business  a  subtlety  of  intellect,  a  rapidity 
of  penetration,  and  a  soundness  of  judgment  that 
were  perfectly  marvelous.  A  little  too  stout  already 
for  his  figure,  which  was  not  tall,  chubby,  bald,  with 
an  infantile  expression,  fat  hands,  and  short  thighs, 
he  looked  much  too  greasy  to  be  quite  healthy,  and 
spoke  with  amazing  facility. 

By  means  of  tact  he  had  been  able  to  form  an 
alliance  with  the  daughter  of  the  Marquis  de  Ravenel 
with  a  view  to  extending  his  speculations  into  a  sphere 
to  which  he  did  not  belong.  The  Marquis,  besides, 
possessed  an  income  of  about  thirty  thousand  francs, 
and  had  only  two  children;  but,  when  M.  Andermatt 


MONT    ORIOL  ^ 

married,  though  scarcely  thirty  years  of  age,  he  owned 
already  five  or  six  millions,  and  had  sown  enough  to 
bring  him  in  a  harvest  of  ten  or  twelve.  M.  de  Ra- 
venel,  a  man  of  weak,  irresolute,  shifting,  and  unde- 
cided character,  at  first  angrily  repulsed  the  overtures 
made  to  him  with  respect  to  this  union,  and  was  in- 
dignant at  the  thought  of  seeing  his  daughter  allied 
to  an  Israelite.  Then,  after  six  months'  resistance,  he 
gave  way,  under  the  pressure  of  accumulated  wealth, 
on  the  condition  that  the  children  should  be  brought 
up  in  the  Catholic  religion. 

But  they  waited  for  a  long  time  and  no  offspring 
was  yet  announced.  It  was  then  that  the  Marquis, 
enchanted  for  the  past  two  years  with  the  waters  of 
Enval,  recalled  to  mind  the  fact  that  Doctor  Bonne- 
fille's  pamphlet  also  promised  the  cure  for  sterility. 

Accordingly,  he  sent  for  his  daughter,  whom  his 
son-in-law  accompanied,  in  order  to  install  her  and  to 
intrust  her,  acting  on  the  advice  of  his  Paris  physi- 
cian, to  the  care  of  Doctor  Latonne.  Therefore,  An- 
dermatt,  since  his  arrival,  had  gone  to  look  for  this 
practitioner,  and  went  on  enumerating  the  symptoms 
which  presented  themselves  in  his  wife's  case.  He 
finished  by  mentioning  how  much  he  had  been  pained 
at  finding  his  hopes  of  paternity  unrealized. 

Doctor  Latonne  allowed  him  to  go  on  to  the  end; 
then,  turning  toward  the  young  woman:  "Have  you 
anything  to  add,  Madame?" 

She  replied  gravely:  "No,  Monsieur,  nothing  at  all." 

He  went  on:  "In  that  case,  1  will  trouble  you  to 
take  off  your  traveling-dress  and  your  corset,  and  to 
put  on  a  simple  white  dressing-gown,  all  while." 

She  was  astonished;  he  rapidly  explained   his  sys- 


lO  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

tem:  "Good  heavens,  Madame,  it  is  very  simple. 
Formerly,  the  belief  was  that  all  diseases  came  from 
a  poison  in  the  blood  or  from  an  organic  cause;  to-day, 
we  simply  assume  that,  in  many  cases,  and,  above  all, 
in  your  particular  case,  the  uncertain  ailments  from 
which  you  suffer,  and  even  certain  serious  troubles, 
very  serious,  mortal,  may  proceed  only  from  the  fact 
that  some  organ  or  other,  having  taken,  under  in- 
fluences easy  to  determine,  an  abnormal  development, 
to  the  detriment  of  the  neighboring  organs,  destroys 
all  the  harmony,  all  the  equilibrium  of  the  human 
body,  modifies  or  arrests  its  functions,  and  obstructs  the 
play  of  all  the  other  organs.  A  swelling  of  the  stomach 
may  be  sufficient  to  make  us  believe  in  a  disease  of 
the  heart,  which,  impeded  in  its  movements,  becomes 
violent,  irregular,  sometimes  even  intermittent.  The 
dilatation  of  the  liver  or  of  certain  glands  may  cause 
ravages  which  unobservant  physicians  attribute  to  a 
thousand  different  causes.  Therefore,  the  first  thing 
that  we  should  do  is  to  ascertain  whether  all  the 
organs  of  a  patient  have  their  true  compass  and  their 
normal  position,  for  a  very  little  thing  is  enough  to 
upset  a  person's  health.  I  am  going,  then,  Madame, 
if  you  will  allow  me,  to  examine  you  with  great  care, 
and  to  mark  out  on  your  dressing-gown  the  limits, 
the  dimensions,  and  the  positions  of  your  organs." 

He  had  put  down  his  hat  on  a  chair,  and  he 
spoke  in  a  facile  manner.  His  large  mouth,  in  open- 
ing and  closing,  made  two  deep  hollows  in  his  shaven 
cheeks,  which  gave  him  a  certain  ecclesiastical  air. 

Andermatt,  delighted,  exclaimed:  "Capital,  capital! 
That  is  very  clever,  very  ingenious,  very  new,  very 
modern." 


MONTORIOL  II 

"Very  modern"  in  his  mouth  was  the  height  of 
admiration. 

The  young  woman,  highly  amused,  rose  and  passed 
into  her  own  apartment.  She  came  back,  after  the 
lapse  of  a  few  minutes,  in  a  white  dressing-gown. 

The  physician  made  her  lie  down  on  a  sofa,  then, 
drawing  from  his  pocket  a  pencil  with  three  points, 
a  black,  a  red,  and  a  blue,  he  commenced  to  auscul- 
tate and  to  tap  his  new  patient,  riddling  the  dressing- 
gown  all  over  with  little  dots  of  color  by  way  of 
noting  each  observation. 

She  resembled,  after  a  quarter  of  an  hour  of  this 
work,  a  map  indicating  continents,  seas,  capes,  rivers, 
kingdoms,  and  cities,  and  bearing  the  names  of  all 
these  terrestrial  divisions,  for  the  doctor  wrote  on 
every  line  of  demarcation  two  or  three  Latin  words 
intelligible  to  himself  alone. 

Now,  when  he  had  listened  to  all  the  internal 
sounds  in  Madame  Andermatt's  body,  and  tapped  on 
all  the  parts  of  her  person  that  were  irritated  or 
hollow-sounding,  he  drew  forth  from  his  pocket  a 
notebook  of  red  leather  with  gold  threads  to  fasten 
it,  divided  in  alphabetical  order,  consulted  the  index, 
opened  it,  and  wrote:  "Observation  6347. — Madame 
A ,  21  years." 

Then,  collecting  from  her  head  to  her  feet  the  col- 
ored notes  on  her  dressing-gown,  and  reading  them 
as  an  Egyptologist  deciphers  hieroglyphics,  he  entered 
them  in  the  notebook. 

He  observed,  when  he  had  finished:  "Nothing 
disquieting,  nothing  abnormal,  save  a  slight,  a  very 
slight  deviation,  which  some  thirty  acidulated  baths 
will    cure.      You    will    take    furthermore    three    half- 


12  WORKS  OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

glasses  of  water  each  morning  before  noon.  Nothing 
else  I  will  come  back  to  see  you  in  four  or  five 
days."  Then  he  rose,  bowed,  and  went  out  with 
such  promptitude  that  everyone  remained  stupefied  at 
it.  This  abrupt  style  of  departure  was  a  part  of  his 
mannerism,  his  tact,  his  special  stamp.  He  considered 
it  very  good  form,  and  thought  it  made  a  great  im- 
pression on  the  patient. 

Madame  Andermatt  ran  to  look  at  herself  in  the 
glass,  and,  shaking  all  over  with  a  joyous  burst  of 
childlike  laughter,  said: 

"Oh!  how  amusing  they  are,  how  droll  they  are! 
Tell  me,  is  there  not  one  more  left  of  them  ?  1  want 
to  see  him  immediately!  Will,  go  and  find  him  for 
me!  We  must  have  the  third  one  here — I  want  to 
see  him." 

Her   husband,  surprised,  asked: 

"How,  a  third,  a  third  what?" 

The  Marquis  deemed  it  advisable  to  explain,  v/hile 
offering  excuses,  for  he  was  a  little  afraid  of  his  son- 
in-law.  He  related,  therefore,  how  Doctor  Bonnefille 
had  come  to  see  himself,  and  how  he  had  introduced 
him  to  Christiane,  in  order  to  ascertain  his  opinion, 
as  he  had  great  confidence  in  the  experience  of  the 
old  physician,  who  was  a  native  of  the  district,  and 
who  had  discovered  the  spring. 

Andermatt  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  declared 
that  Doctor  Latonne  alone  would  take  care  of  his 
wife,  so  that  the  Marquis,  very  uneasy,  began  to 
reflect  on  the  best  course  to  take  in  order  to  arrange 
matters  without  offending  his  irascible   physician. 

Christiane  asked:  "Is  Gontran  here?"  This  was 
her  brother. 


MONT    ORIOL 


13 


Her  fathei  replied:  "Yes,  for  the  past  four  days, 
with  a  friend  of  his  of  whom  he  has  often  spoken, 
M.  Paul  Bretigny,  They  are  making  a  tour  together 
in  Auvergne.  They  have  come  from  Mont  Dor6  and 
from  Bourboule,  and  will  be  setting  out  for  Cantal  at 
the  end  of  next  week." 

Then  he  asked  the  young  woman  whether  she 
desired  to  rest  till  luncheon  after  the  night  in  the 
train;  but  she  had  slept  perfectly  in  the  sleeping  car, 
and  only  required  an  hour  for  her  toilette,  after  which 
she  wished  to  visit  the  village  and  the  establishment. 

Her  father  and  her  husband  went  back  to  their 
rooms  to  wait  till  she  was  ready.  She  soon  came 
out  to  call  them,  and  they  descended  together.  She 
grew  enthusiastic  at  first  sight  over  the  aspect  of  the 
village,  built  in  the  middle  of  a  wood  in  a  deep 
valley,  which  seemed  hemmed  in  on  every  side  by  chest- 
nut-trees lofty  as  mountains.  These  could  be  seen 
everywhere,  springing  up  just  as  they  chanced  to  have 
shot  forth  here  and  there  in  a  century,  in  front  of  door- 
ways, in  the  courtyards,  in  the  streets.  Then,  again, 
there  were  fountains  everywhere  made  of  a  great  black 
stone  standing  upright  pierced  with  a  small  aperture, 
through  which  dashed  a  streamlet  of  clear  water  that 
whirled  about  in  a  circle  before  it  fell  into  the  trough. 
A  fresh  odor  of  grass  and  of  stables  floated  over  those 
masses  of  verdure;  and  they  saw  the  peasant  women 
of  Auvergne  standing  in  front  of  their  dwellings, 
spinning  at  their  distaffs  with  lively  movements  of 
their  fingers  the  black  wool  attached  to  their  girdles. 
Their  short  petticoats  showed  their  thin  ankles  cov- 
ered with  blue  stockings,  and  the  bodies  of  their 
dresses    fastened  over  their  shoulders  with  straps  left 


14 


WORKS  OF   GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 


exposed  the  linen  sleeves  of  their  chemises,  out  of 
which  stretched  their  hard,  dry  arms  and  bony  hands. 

But,  suddenly,  .a  queer  lilting  kind  of  music  burst 
on  the  promenaders'  ears.  It  was  like  a  barrel-organ 
with  piping  sounds,  a  barrel-organ  used  up,  broken- 
winded,  invalided. 

Christiane  exclaimed:  "What  is  that?" 

Her  father  began  to  laugh:  "It  is  the  orchestra  of 
the  Casino.     It  takes  four  of  them  to  make  that  noise." 

And  he  led  her  up  to  a  red  bill  affixed  to  a  corner 
of  a  farmhouse,  on  which  appeared  in  black  letters: 

CASINO  OF  ENVAL 

UNDER   THE    DIRECTION    OF   M.     PETRUS    MARTEL, 
OF   THE    ODEON. 

Saturday,  6th  of  July. 

Grand  Concert 

organized  by  the  Maestro,  Saint  Landri,  second  grand  prize  winner  at 

the  Conservatoire. 
The  piano  will   be   presided   over   by    M.  Javel,   grand  laureate  of  the 

Conservatoire. 

Flute,   M.   Noirot,  laureate  of  the  Conservatoire. 

Double-bass,  M.  Nicordi,  laureate  of  the   Royal   Academy  of  Brussels. 

After  the  Concert,  grand  representation  of 

Lost  in  the  Forest^ 

a  Comedy  in  one  act,  by  M.   Pointellet. 

Characters: 

Pierre  de  Lapointe M.  Petrus  Martel,  of  the   Odeon. 

Oscar  Leveille M.   Petitnivelle,  of  tlie  Vaudeville. 

Jean M.   Lapalme,  of  the  Grand  Tlicater  of  Bordeaux. 

Philippine Mademoiselle  Odelin,  of  the  Odeon. 

During   the   representation,  the    Orchestra   will   be   likewise    conducted 
by  the  Maestro,  Saint  Landri. 


MONT    ORIOL  15 

Christiane  read  this  aloud,  laughed,  and  was  as- 
tonished. 

Her  fiUher  went  on:  "Oh!  they  will  amuse  you. 
Come  and  look  at  them." 

They  turned  to  the  right,  and  entered  the  park. 
The  bathers  promenaded  gravely,  slowly,  along  the 
three  walks.  They  drank  their  glasses  of  water,  and 
then  went  away.  Some  of  them,  seated  on  benches, 
traced  lines  in  the  sand  with  the  ends  of  their  walking- 
sticks  or  their  umbrellas.  They  did  not  talk,  seemed 
not  to  think,  scarcely  to  live,  enervated,  paralyzed  by 
the  ennui  of  the  thermal  station.  Only  the  odd  music 
of  the  orchestra  broke  the  sweet  silence  as  it  leaped 
into  the  air,  coming  one  knew  not  whence,  produced 
one  knew  not  how,  passing  under  the  foliage  and 
appearing  to  stir  up  these  melancholy  walkers. 

A  voice  cried:    "Christiane!" 

She  turned  round.  It  was  her  brother.  He  rushed 
toward  her,  embraced  her,  and,  having  pressed  An- 
dermatt's  hand,  took  his  sister  by  the  arm,  and  drew 
her  along  with  him,  leaving  his  father  and  his  brother- 
in-law  in  the  rear. 

They  chatted.  He  was  a  tall,  well-made  young 
fellow,  prone  to  laughter  like  her,  light-hearted  as 
the  Marquis,  inditTerent  to  events,  but  always  on  the 
lookout  for  a  thousand  francs. 

"1  thought  you  were  asleep,"  said  he.  "But  for 
that  I  would  have  come  to  embrace  you.  And  then 
Paul  carried  me  off  this  morning  to  the  chateau  of 
Tournoel." 

"Who  is  Paul?    Oh,  yes,  your  friend!" 

"Paul  Bretigny.  It  is  true  you  don't  know  him. 
He  is  taking  a  bath  at  the  present  moment." 


l6  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

"He  is  a  patient,  then?" 

"No,  but  he  is  curing  himself,  all  the  same.  He 
is  trying  to  get  over  a  love  episode," 

"And  so  he's  tailing  acidulated  baths  —  they're 
called  acidulated,  are  they  not? — in  order  to  restore 
himself." 

"Yes.  He's  doing  all  I  told  him  to  do.  Oh!  he 
has  been  hit  hard.  He's  a  violent  youth,  terrible,  and 
has  been  at  death's  door.  He  wanted  to  kill  himself, 
too.  It  was  an  actress  —  a  well-known  actress.  He 
was  madly  in  love  with  her.  And  then  she  was  not 
faithful  to  him,  do  you  see  ?  The  result  was  a  fright- 
ful drama.  So  I  brought  him  away.  He's  going  on 
better  now,  but  he's  still  thinking  about  it." 

She  smiled  for  a  moment,  then,  becoming  grave, 
she  returned: 

"It  will  amuse  me  to  see  him." 

For  her,  however,  this  thing,  "Love,"  did  not 
mean  very  much.  She  sometimes  bestowed  a  thought 
on  it,  just  as  you  think,  when  you  are  poor,  now  and 
then  of  a  pearl  necklace,  of  a  diadem  of  brilliants, 
with  a  desire  awakened  in  you  for  this  thing  —  possi- 
ble though  far  away.  This  fancy  would  come  to  her 
after  reading  some  novel  to  kill  time,  without  attach- 
ing to  it,  beyond  that,  any  special  importance.  She 
had  never  dreamed  about  it  much,  having  been  born 
with  a  happy  soul,  tranquil  and  contented,  and,  al- 
though now  two  years  and  a  half  married,  she  had 
not  yet  awakened  out  of  that  sleep  in  which  inno- 
cent young  girls  live,  that  sleep  of  the  heart,  of  the 
mind,  and  of  the  senses,  which,  with  some  women, 
lasts  until  death.  For  her  life  was  simple  and  good, 
without  complications.     She  had  never  looked  for  the 


MONT    ORIOL 


J? 


causes  or  the  hidden  meaning  of  things.  She  had 
hved  on  from  day  to  day,  slept  soundly,  dressed 
with  taste,  laughed,  and  felt  satisfied.  What  more 
could  she  have  asked  for? 

When  Andermatt  had  been  introduced  to  her  as 
her  future  husband,  she  refused  to  wed  him  at  first 
with  a  childish  indignation  at  the  idea  of  becoming 
the  wife  of  a  Jew.  Her  father  and  her  brother, 
sharing  her  repugnance,  replied  with  her  and  like  her 
by  formally  declining  the  offer.  Andermatt  disap- 
peared, acted  as  if  he  were  dead,  but,  at  the  end  of 
three  months,  had  lent  Gontran  more  than  twenty 
thousand  francs;  and  the  Marquis,  for  other  reasons, 
was  beginning  to  change  his  opinion. 

In  the  first  place,  he  always  on  principle  yielded 
when  one  persisted,  through  sheer  egotistical  desire 
not  to  be  disturbed.  His  daughter  used  to  say  of 
him:  "All  papa's  ideas  are  jumbled  up  together"; 
and  this  was  true.  Without  opinions,  without  beliefs, 
he  had  only  enthusiasms,  which  varied  every  mo- 
ment. At  one  time,  he  would  attach  himself,  with  a 
transitory  and  poetic  exaltation,  to  the  old  traditions 
of  his  race,  and  would  long  for  a  king,  but  an  intel- 
lectual king,  liberal,  enlightened,  marching  along  with 
the  age.  At  another  time,  alter  he  had  read  a  book 
by  Michelet  or  some  democratic  thinker,  he  would 
become  a  passionate  advocate  of  human  equality,  of 
modern  ideas,  of  the  claims  of  the  poor,  the  op- 
pressed, and  the  suffering.  He  believed  in  everything, 
just  as  each  thing  harmonized  with  his  passing  moods; 
and,  when  his  old  friend,  Madame  Icardon,  who, 
connected  as  she  was  with  many  Israelites,  desired 
the  marriage  of  Christiane  and  Andermatt,  and  began 

8     O.  de  M.— a 


l8  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

to  preach  in  favor  of  it,  she  knew  full    well  the  kind 
of  arguments  with  which  she  should  attack  him. 

She  pointed  out  to  him  that  the  Jewish  race  had 
arrived  at  the  hour  of  vengeance.  It  had  been  a  race 
crushed  down  as  the  French  people  had  been  before 
the  Revolution,  and  was  now  going  to  oppress  others 
by  the  power  of  gold.  The  Marquis,  devoid  of  reli- 
gious faith,  but  convinced  that  the  idea  of  God  was 
rather  a  legislative  idea,  which  had  more  effect  in 
keeping  the  foolish,  the  ignorant,  and  the  timid  in 
the  right  path  than  the  simple  notion  of  Justice,  re- 
garded dogmas  with  a  respectful  indifference,  and  held 
in  equal  and  sincere  esteem  Confucius,  Mohammed, 
and  Jesus  Christ.  Accordingly,  the  fact  that  the  lat- 
ter was  crucified  did  not  at  all  present  itself  as  an 
original  wrongdoing  but  as  a  gross,  political  blunder. 
In  consequence  it  only  required  a  few  weeks  to  make 
him  admire  the  toil,  hidden,  incessant,  and  all-powerful, 
of  the  persecuted  Jews  everywhere.  And,  viewing 
with  different  eyes  their  brilliant  triumph,  he  looked 
upon  it  as  a  just  reparation  for  the  indignities  that 
so  long  had  been  heaped  upon  them.  He  saw  them 
masters  of  kings,  who  are  the  masters  of  the  people  — 
sustaining  thrones  or  allowing  them  to  collapse,  able 
to  make  a  nation  bankrupt  as  one  might  a  wine- 
merchant,  proud  in  the  presence  of  princes  who  had 
grown  humble,  and  casting  their  impure  gold  into  the 
half-open  purses  of  the  most  Catholic  sovereigns,  who 
thanked  them  by  conferring  on  them  titles  of  nobility 
and  lines  of  railway.  So  he  consented  to  the  mar- 
riage of  William  Andermatt  with  Christiane  de  Ravenel. 

As  for  Christiane,  under  the  unconscious    pressure 
of  Madame  Icardon,  her  mother's  old  companion,  who 


MONT    ORIOL 


19 


had  become  her  intimate  adviser  since  the  Marquise's 
death,  a  pressure  to  which  was  added  that  of  her 
father  and  the  interested  indifference  of  her  brother, 
she  consented  to  marry  this  big,  overrich  youth,  who 
was  not  ugly  but  scarcely  pleased  her,  just  as  she 
would  have  consented  to  spend  a  summer  in  a  dis- 
agreeable country. 

She  found  him  a  good  fellow,  kind,  not  stupid, 
nice  in  intimate  relations;  but  she  frequently  laughed 
at  him  along  with  Gontran,  whose  gratitude  was  of 
the  perfidious  order. 

He  would  say  to  her:  "Your  husband  is  rosier 
and  balder  th:An  ever.  He  looks  like  a  sickly  flower, 
or  a  sucking  pig  with  its  hair  shaved  off.  Where 
does  he  get  these  colors?" 

She  would  reply:  "I  assure  you  I  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it.  There  are  days  when  I  feel  inclined 
to  paste  him  on  a  box  of  sugar-plums." 

But  they  had  arrived  in  front  of  the  baths.  Two 
men  were  seated  on  straw  chairs  with  their  backs  to 
the  wall,  smoking  their  pipes,  one  at  each  side  of 
the   door. 

Said  Gontran:  "Look,  here  are  two  good  types. 
Watch  the  fellow  at  the  right,  the  hunchback  with 
the  Greek  cap!  That's  Pere  Printemps,  an  ex-jailer 
from  Riom,  who  has  become  the  guardian,  almost 
the  manager,  of  the  Enval  establishment.  For  him 
nothing  is  changed,  and  he  governs  the  invalids  just 
as  he  did  his  prisoners  in  former  days.  The  bathers 
are  always  prisoners,  their  bathing-boxes  are  cells, 
the  douche-room  a  black-hole,  and  the  place  where 
Doctor  Bonnefille  practices  his  stomach-washings  with 
the    aid    of  the  Baraduc    sounding-line    a    chamber  of 


20  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

mysterious  torture.  He  does  not  salute  any  of  the 
men  on  the  strength  of  the  principle  that  all  convicts 
are  contemptible  beings.  He  treats  women  with  much 
more  consideration,  upon  my  honor  —  a  consideration 
mingled  with  astonishment,  for  he  had  none  of  them 
under  his  control  in  the  prison  of  Riom.  That  re- 
treat being  destined  for  males  only,  he  has  not  yet 
got  accustomed  to  talking  to  members  of  the  fair 
sex.  The  other  fellow  is  the  cashier.  I  defy  you  to 
make  him  write  your  name.  You  are  just  going 
to  see." 

And  Gontran,  addressing  the  man  at  the  left, 
slowly  said: 

"Monsieur  Seminois,  this  is  my  sister,  Madame 
Andermatt,  who  wants  to  subscribe  for  a  dozen 
baths." 

The  cashier,  very  tall,  very  thin,  with  a  poor  ap- 
pearance, rose  up,  went  into  his  office,  which  exactly 
faced  the  study  of  the  medical  inspector,  opened  his 
book,  and   asked: 

"What  name?" 

"Andermatt." 

"What  did  you  say?" 

"Andermatt." 

"How  do  you  spell  it?" 

"A-n-d-e-r-m-a-t-t." 

"All  right." 

And  he  slowly  wrote  it  down.  When  he  had 
finished,  Gontran  asked: 

"Would  you  kindly  read  over  my  sister's  name?" 

"Yes,  Monsieur!     Madame  Anterpat." 

Christiane  laughed  till  the  tears  came  into  her 
eyes,   paid  for  her  tickets,  and  then  asked: 


MONT    ORIOL  21 

"What  is  it  that  one  hears  up  there?" 

Gontran  took  her  arm  in  his.  Two  aiigry  voices 
reached  their  ears  on  the  stairs.  They  went  up, 
opened  a  door,  and  saw  a  large  cofTee-room  with  a 
biUiard  table  in  the  center.  Two  men  in  their  shirt- 
sleeves at  opposite  sides  of  the  billiard-table,  each 
with  a  cue  in  his  hand,  were  furiously  abusing  one 
another. 

"Eighteen!" 

"Seventeen!" 

"1  tell  you  I'm  eighteen." 

"That's  not  true  —  you're  only  seventeen!" 

It  was  the  director  of  the  Casino,  M.  Petrus  Martel 
of  the  Odeon,  who  was  playing  his  ordinary  game 
with  the  comedian  of  his  company,  M.  Lapalme  of 
the  Grand  Theater  of  Bordeaux. 

Petrus  Martel,  whose  stomach,  stout  and  inactive, 
swayed  underneath  his  shirt  above  a  pair  of  panta- 
loons fastened  anyhow,  after  having  been  a  strolling 
player  in  various  places,  had  undertaken  the  director- 
ship of  the  Casino  of  Enval,  and  spent  his  days  in 
drinking  the  allowances  intended  for  the  bathers.  He 
wore  an  immense  mustache  like  a  dragoon,  which 
was  steeped  from  morning  till  night  in  the  froth  of 
bocks  and  the  sticky  syrup  of  liqueurs,  and  he  had 
aroused  in  the  old  comedian  whom  he  had  enlisted 
in  his  service  an  immoderate  passion  for  billiards. 

As  soon  as  they  got  up  in  the  morning,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  play  a  game,  insulted  and  threatened  one 
another,  expunged  the  record,  began  over  again, 
scarcely  gave  themselves  time  for  breakfast,  and  could 
not  tolerate  two  clients  coming  to  drive  them  away 
from  their  green  cloth. 


22  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

They  soon  put  everyone  to  flight,  and  did  not 
find  this  sort  of  existence  unpleasant,  though  Petrus 
Martel  always  found  himself  at  the  end  of  the  season 
in  a  bankrupt  condition. 

The  female  attendant,  overwhelmed,  would  have 
to  look  on  all  day  at  this  endless  game,  listen  to  the 
interminable  discussion,  and  carry  from  morning  till 
night  glasses  of  beer  or  half-glasses  of  brandy  to  the 
two  indefatigable  players. 

But  Gontran  carried  off  his  sister:  "Come  into 
the  park.     'Tis  fresher." 

At  the  end  of  the  establishment  they  suddenly 
perceived  the  orchestra  under  a  Chinese  kiosque.  A 
fair-haired  young  man,  frantically  playing  the  violin, 
was  conducting  with  movements  of  his  head.  His 
hair  was  shaking  from  one  side  to  the  other  in  the 
effort  to  keep  time,  and  his  entire  torso  bent  forward 
and  rose  up  again,  swaying  from  left  to  right,  like 
the  stick  of  the  leader  of  an  orchestra.  Facing  him 
sat  three  strange-looking  musicians.  This  was  the 
maestro,  Saint  Landri. 

He  and  his  assistants  —  a  pianist,  whose  instru- 
ment, mounted  on  rollers,  was  wheeled  each  morn- 
ing from  the  vestibule  of  the  baths  to  the  kiosque  \ 
an  enormous  flautist,  who  presented  the  appearance 
of  sucking  a  match  while  tickling  it  with  his  big 
swollen  fingers,  and  a  double-bass  of  consumptive 
aspect  —  produced  with  much  fatigue  this  perfect  im- 
itation of  a  bad  barrel-organ,  which  had  astonished 
Christiane  in  the  village  street. 

As  she  stopped  to  look  at  them,  a  gentleman  sa- 
luted her  brother. 

"Good  day,   my  dear  Count." 


MONT    ORIOL 


23 


"  Good  day,  doctor." 

And  Gontran  introduced  them:  "My  sister  —  Doc- 
tor Honorat." 

She  could  scarcely  restrain  her  merriment  at  the 
sight  of  this  third  physician.  The  latter  bowed  and 
made  some  complimentary  remark. 

"I  hope  that  Madame  is  not  an  invalid?" 

"Yes  — slightly." 

He  did  not  go  farther  with  the  matter,  and  changed 
the  subject. 

"You  are  aware,  my  dear  Count,  that  you  will 
shortly  have  one  of  the  most  interesting  spectacles 
that  could  await  you  on  your  arrival  in  this  district." 

"What  is  it,  pray,  doctor?" 

"  Pere  Oriol  is  going  to  blast  his  hill.  This  is  of 
no  consequence  to  you,  but  for  us  it  is  a  big  event." 

And  he  proceeded  to  explain.  "Pere  Oriol — the 
richest  peasant  in  this  part  of  the  country  —  he  is 
known  to  be  worth  over  fifty  thousand  francs  a  year 
—  owns  all  the  vineyards  along  the  plain  up  to  the 
outlet  of  Enval.  Now,  just  as  you  go  out  from  the 
village  at  the  division  of  the  valley,  rises  a  little  moun- 
tain, or  rather  a  high  knoll,  and  on  this  knoll  are 
the  best  vineyards  of  Pere  Oriol.  In  the  midst  of  two 
of  them,  facing  the  road,  at  two  paces  from  the  stream, 
stands  a  gigantic  stone,  an  elevation  which  has  im- 
peded the  cultivation  and  put  into  the  shade  one  en- 
tire side  of  the  field,  on  which  it  looks  down.  For 
six  years,  Pere  Oriol  has  every  week  been  announc- 
ing that  he  was  going  to  blast  his  hill;  but  he  has 
never  made  up  his  mind  about   it. 

"Every  time  a  country  boy  went  to  be  a  soldier, 
the   old  man  would  say  to  him:    'When  you're  com- 


24  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

ing  home  on  furlough,  bring  me  some  powder  for 
this  rock  of  mine.'  And  all  the  young  soldiers  would 
bring  back  in  their  knapsacks  some  powder  that  they 
stole  for  Pere  Oriol's  rock.  He  has  a  chest  full  of 
this  powder,  and  yet  the  hill  has  not  been  blasted. 
At  last,  for  a  week  past,  he  has  been  noticed  scooping 
out  the  stone,  with  his  son,  big  Jacques,  surnamed 
Colosse,  which  in  Auvergne  is  pronounced  'Coloche.' 
This  very  morning  they  filled  with  powder  the  empty 
belly  of  the  enormous  rock;  then  they  stopped  up  the 
mouth  of  it,  only  letting  in  the  fuse  bought  at  the 
tobacconist's.  In  two  hours'  time  they  will  set  fire  to 
it.  Then,  five  or  ten  minutes  afterward,  it  will  go  off, 
for  the  end  of  the  fuse  is  pretty  long." 

Christiane  was  interested  in  this  narrative,  amused 
already  at  the  idea  of  this  explosion,  finding  here 
again  a  childish  sport  that  pleased  her  simple  heart. 
They  had  now  reached  the  end  of  the  park. 

"Where  do  you  go  now?"  she  said. 

Doctor  Honorat  replied:  "To  the  End  of  the 
World,  Madame;  that  is  to  say,  into  a  gorge  that  has 
no  outlet  and  which  is  celebrated  in  Auvergne.  it  is 
one  of  the  loveliest   natural  curiosities  in  the  district." 

But  a  bell  rang  behind  them.     Gontran    cried: 

"Look  here!  breakfast-time  already!" 

They  turned  back.  A  tall,  young  man  came  up  to 
meet  them. 

Gontran  said:  "My  dear  Christiane,  let  me  intro- 
duce to  you  M.  Paul  Bretigny."  Then,  to  his  friend: 
"This  is  my  sister,  my  dear  boy." 

She  thought  him  ugly.  He  had  black  hair,  close- 
cropped  and  straight,  big,  round  eyes,  with  an  ex- 
pression   that    was    almost    hard,    a    head    also    quite 


MONT    ORIOL  25 

round,  very  strong,  one  of  those  heads  that  nnake 
you  think  of  cannon-balls,  herculean  shoulders,  a 
rather  savage  expression,  heavy  and  brutish.  But 
from  his  jacket,  from  his  linen,  from  his  skin  per- 
haps, came  a  very  subtle  perfume,  with  which  the 
young  woman  was  not  familiar,  and  she  asked  her- 
self: 

"I  wonder  what  odor  that  is?" 

He  said  to  her:  "You  arrived  this  morning, 
Madame?"     His  voice  was  a  little  hollow. 

She  replied:  "Yes,  Monsieur." 

But  Gontran  saw  the  Marquis  and  Andermatt 
making  signals  to  them  to  come  in  quickly  to 
breakfast. 

Doctor  Honorat  took  leave  of  them,  asking  as  he 
left  whether  they  really  meant  to  go  and  see  the  hill 
blasted.  Christiane  declared  that  she  would  go;  and, 
leaning  on  her  brother's  arm,  she  murmured  as  she 
dragged  him  along  toward  the  hotel: 

"I  am  as  hungry  as  a  wolf  I  shall  be  very  much 
ashamed  to  eat  as  much  as  1  feel  inclined  before  your 
friend." 


CHAPTER    II. 


The   Discovery 


T 


HE  breakfast  was  long,  as  the  meals 

usually    are    at    a    table    d'hote. 

_       Christiane,  who  was  not  familiar 

^^,  with    all    the  f^ices   of   those    present, 

chatted  with  her  father  and  her  brother. 

Then    she   went    up    to    her    room    to 

take  a  rest  till  the  time  for  blasting  the 

rock. 

She   was    ready    long    before   the    hour 
Tp-\^      Hxed,  and  made  the  others  start  along  with 
^^^    her  so    that   they  might    not   miss   the  explo- 
^^ '    sion.     Just   outside  the  village,  at   the   opening 
-f5'    of  the   glen,  stood,    as   they    had   heard,  a   high 
^     knoll,  almost   a    mountain,  which   they  proceeded 
to  climb  under  a  burning   sun,  following  a  little  path 
through  the  vine-trees.     When  they  reached  the  sum- 
mit  the  young  woman  uttered  a  cry  of  astonishment 
at   the   sight   of  the   immense    horizon    displayed   be- 
fore  her   eyes.     In  front    of  her   stretched   a   limitless 
plain,  which  immediately  gave  her  soul  the  sensation 
of  an  ocean.     This  plain,  overhung  by  a  veil  of  light 
blue    vapor,    extended    as    far     as    the    most    distant 
(26) 


MONT    ORIOL 


37 


mountain-ridges,  which  were  scarcely  perceptible, 
some  fifty  or  sixty  kilometers  away.  And  under  the 
transparent  haze  of  delicate  fineness,  which  floated 
above  this  vast  stretch,  could  be  distinguished  towns, 
villages,  woods,  vast  yellow  squares  of  ripe  crops, 
vast  green  squares  of  herbage,  factories  with  long, 
red  chimneys  and  blackened  steeples  and  sharp- 
pointed  structures,  with  the  solidified  lava  of  dead 
volcanoes. 

"Turn  around,"  said  her  brother. 

She  turned  around.  And  behind  she  saw  the 
mountain,  the  huge  mountain  indented  with  craters. 
This  was  the  entrance  to  the  foundation  on  which 
Enval  stood,  a  great  expanse  of  greenness  in  which 
one  could  scarcely  trace  the  hidden  gash  of  the 
gorge.  The  trees  in  a  waving  mass  scaled  the  high 
slope  as  far  as  the  first  crater  and  shut  out  the  view 
of  those  beyond.  But,  as  they  were  exactly  on  the 
line  that  separated  the  plains  from  the  mountain,  the 
latter  stretched  to  the  left  toward  Clermont-Ferrand, 
and,  wandering  away,  unrolled  over  the  blue  sky 
their  strange  mutilated  tops,  like  monstrous  blotches 
—  extinct  volcanoes,  dead  volcanoes.  And  yonder  — 
over  yonder,  between  two  peaks  —  could  be  seen  an- 
other, higher  still,  more  distant  still,  round  and 
majestic,  and  bearing  on  its  highest  pinnacle  some- 
thing of  fantastic  shape  resembling  a  ruin.  This  was 
the  Puy  de  Dome,  the  king  of  the  mountains  of 
Auvergne,  strong  and  unwieldy,  wearing  on  its  head, 
like  a  crown  placed  thereon  by  the  mightiest  of  peo- 
ples, the  remains  of  a  Roman  temple. 

Christiane    exclaimed:     "Oh!    how    happy    I    shall 
be  here!" 


^  WORKS  OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

And  she  felt  herself  happy  already,  penetrated  by 
that  sense  of  well-being  which  takes  possession  of 
the  flesh  and  the  heart,  makes  you  breathe  with  ease, 
and  renders  you  sprightly  and  active  when  you  find 
yourself  in  a  spot  which  enchants  your  eyes,  charms 
and  cheers  you,  seems  to  have  been  awaiting  you,  a 
spot  for  which  you  feel  that  you  were  born. 

Some  one  called  out  to  her:  "Madame,  Madame!" 
And,  at  some  distance  away,  she  saw  Doctor  Honorat, 
recognizable  by  his  big  hat.  He  rushed  across  to 
them,  and  conducted  the  family  toward  the  opposite 
side  of  the  hill,  over  a  grassy  slope  beside  a  grove  of 
young  trees,  where  already  some  thirty  persons  were 
waiting,  strangers  and  peasants  mingled  together. 

Beneath  their  feet,  the  steep  hillside  descended  to- 
ward the  Riom  road,  overshadowed  by  willov/s  that 
sheltered  the  shallow  river;  and  in  the  midst  of  a 
vineyard  at  the  edge  of  this  stream  rose  a  sharp- 
pointed  rock  before  which  two  men  on  bended  knees 
seemed  to  be  praying.     This  was  the  scene  ©faction. 

The  Oriols,  father  and  son,  were  attaching  the 
fuse.  On  the  road,  a  crowd  of  curious  spectators  had 
stationed  themselves,  with  a  line  of  people  lower 
down  in  front,  among  whom  village  brats  were 
scampering  about. 

Doctor  Honorat  chose  a  convenient  place  for 
Christiane  to  sit  down,  and  there  she  waited  with  a 
beating  heart,  as  if  she  were  going  to  see  the  entire 
population  blown  up  along  with  the  rock. 

The  Marquis,  Andermatt,  and  Paul  Bretigny  lay 
down  on  the  grass  at  the  young  woman's  side,  while 
Gontran  remained  standing.  He  said,  in  a  bantering 
tone: 


MONT    ORIOL  20 

"My  dear  doctor,  you  must  be  much  less  busy 
than  your  brother-practitioners,  who  apparently  have 
not  an  hour  to  spare  to  attend  this  little  fete}'' 

Honorat  replied  in  a  good-humored  tone: 

"I  am  not  less  busy;  only  my  patients  occupy  less 
of  my  time.  And  again  1  prefer  to  amuse  my  patients 
rather  than  to  physic  them." 

He  had  a  quiet  manner  which  greatly  pleased 
Gontran.  Other  persons  now  arrived,  fellow-guests 
at  the  table  d'hote  —  the  ladies  Paille,  two  widows, 
mother  and  daughter;  the  Monecus,  father  and  daugh- 
ter; and  a  very  small,  fat,  man,  who  was  puffing  like 
a  boiler  that  had  burst,  M.  Aubry-Pasteur,  an  ex- 
engineer  of  mines,  who  had  made  a  fortune  in  Russia. 

M.  Pasteur  and  the  Marquis  were  on  intimate  terms. 
He  seated  himself  with  much  difficulty  after  some  pre- 
paratory movements,  circumspect  and  cautious,  which 
considerably  amused  Christiane.  Gontran  sauntered 
away  from  them,  in  order  to  have  a  look  at  the  other 
persons  whom  curiosity  had  attracted  toward  the 
knoll. 

Paul  Bretigny  pointed  out  to  Christiane  Andermatt 
the  views,  of  which  they  could  catch  glimpses  in  the 
distance.  First  of  ail,  Riom  made  a  red  patch  with 
its  row  of  tiles  along  the  plain;  then  Ennezat,  Marin- 
gues,  Lezoux,  a  heap  of  villages  scarcely  distinguish- 
able, which  only  broke  the  wide  expanse  of  verdure 
with  a  somber  indentation  here  and  there,  and,  further 
down,  away  down  below,  at  the  base  of  the  moun- 
tains, he  pretended  that  he  could  trace  out  Thiers. 

He  said,  in  an  animated  fashion:  "Look,  look! 
Just  in  front  of  my  finger,  exactly  in  front  of  my 
finger.     For  my  part,  I  can  see  it  quite  distinctly." 


30  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

She  could  see  nothing,  but  she  was  not  surprised 
at  his  power  of  vision,  for  he  looked  like  a  bird  of 
prey,  with  his  round,  piercing  eyes,  which  appeared 
to  be  as  powerful  as  telescopes.     He  went  on: 

"The  Allier  flows  in  front  of  us,  in  the  middle  of 
that  plain,  but  it  is  impossible  to  perceive  it.  It  is 
very  far  off,  thirty  kilometers  from  here." 

She  scarcely  took  the  trouble  to  glance  toward 
the  place  which  he  indicated,  for  she  had  riveted 
her  eyes  on  the  rock  and  given  it  her  entire  atten- 
tion. She  was  saying  to  herself  that  presently  this 
enormous  stone  would  no  longer  exist,  that  it  would 
disappear  in  powder,  and  she  felt  herself  seized  with 
a  vague  pity  for  the  stone,  the  pity  which  a  little 
girl  would  feel  for  a  broken  plaything.  It  had  been 
there  so  long,  this  stone;  and  then  it  was  imposing 
—  it  had  a  picturesque  look.  The  two  men,  who  had 
by  this  time  risen,  were  heaping  up  pebbles  at  the 
foot  of  it,  and  digging  with  the  rapid  movements 
of  peasants  working  hurriedly. 

The  crowd  gathered  along  the  road,  increasing 
every  moment,  had  pushed  forward  to  get  a  better 
view.  The  brats  brushed  against  the  two  diggers, 
and  kept  rushing  and  capering  round  them  like 
young  animals  in  a  state  of  delight;  and  from  the 
elevated  point  at  which  Christiane  was  sitting,  these 
people  looked  quite  small,  a  crowd  of  insects,  an  ant- 
hill in  confusion. 

The  buzz  of  voices  ascended,  now  slight,  scarcely 
noticeable,  then  more  lively,  a  confused  mixture  of 
cries  and  humaii  movements,  but  scattered  through 
the  air,  evaporated  already  —  a  dust  of  sounds,  as  it 
were.     On  the    knoll    likewise    the  crowd  was  swell- 


MONT    ORIOL 


31 


ing  in  numbers,  incessantly  arriving  from  the  village, 
and  covering  up  the  slope  which  looked  down  on 
the  condemned  rock. 

They  were  distinguished  from  each  other,  as  they 
gathered  together,  according  to  their  hotels,  their 
classes,  their  castes.  The  most  clamorous  portion  of 
the  assemblage  was  that  of  the  actors  and  musi- 
cians, presided  over  and  generaled  by  the  conduc- 
tor, Petrus  Martel  of  the  Odeon,  who,  under  the 
circumstances,  had  given  up  his  incessant  game  of 
billiards. 

With  a  Panama  flapping  over  his  forehead,  a  black 
alpaca  jacket  covering  his  shoulders  and  allowing  his 
big  stomach  to  protrude  in  a  semicircle,  for  he  con- 
sidered a  waistcoat  useless  in  the  open  country,  the 
actor,  with  his  thick  mustache,  assumed  the  airs  of  a 
commander-in-chief,  and  pointed  out,  explained,  and 
criticised  all  the  movements  of  the  two  Oriols. 
His  subordinates,  the  comedian  Lapalme,  the  young 
premier  Petitnivelle,  and  the  musicians,  the  maestro 
Saint  Landri,  the  pianist  Javel,  the  huge  flautist  Noi- 
rot,  the  double-bass  Nicordi,  gathered  round  him  to 
listen.  In  front  of  them  were  seated  three  women, 
sheltered  by  three  parasols,  a  white,  a  red,  and  a 
blue,  which,  under  the  sun  of  two  o'clock,  formed  a 
strange  and  dazzling  French  flag.  These  were  Made- 
moiselle Odelin,  the  young  actress;  her  mother, —  a 
mother  that  she  had  hired  out,  as  Gontran  put  it, — 
and  the  female  attendant  of  the  coffee-room,  three 
ladies  who  were  habitual  companions.  The  arrange- 
ment of  these  three  parasols'  so  as  to  suit  the  national 
colors  was  an  invention  of  Petrus  Martel,  who,  having 
noficed  at  the  commencement  of  the  season  the  blue 


32 


WORKS  OF  GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 


and  the  white  in  the  hands  of  the  ladies  Odelin,  had 
made  a  present  of  the  red  to  the  coffee-room  at- 
tendant. 

Quite  close  to  them,  another  group  excited  in- 
terest and  observation,  that  of  the  chefs  and  scullions 
of  the  hotels,  to  the  number  of  eight,  for  there  was 
a  war  of  rivalry  between  the  kitchen-folk,  who  had 
attired  themselves  in  linen  jackets  to  make  an  impres- 
sion on  the  bystanders,  extending  even  to  the 
scullery-maids.  Standing  all  in  a  group  they  let  the 
crude  light  of  day  fall  on  their  flat  white  caps,  pre- 
senting, at  the  same  time,  the  appearance  of  fantastic 
staff-oflTicers  of  lancers  and  a  deputation  of  cooks. 

The  Marquis  asked  Doctor  Honorat:  "Where  do 
all  these  people  come  from  ?  1  never  would  have 
imagined  Enval  was  so  thickly  populated!" 

"Oh!  they  come  from  all  parts,  from  Chatel- 
Guyon,  from  Tournoel,  from  La  Roche-Pradi^re,  from 
Saint-Hippolyte.  For  this  affair  has  been  talked  of  a 
long  time  in  the  country,  and  then  Pere  Oriol  is  a 
celebrity,  an  important  personage  on  account  of  his 
influence  and  his  wealth,  besides  a  true  Auvergnat, 
remaining  still  a  peasant,  working  himself,  hoarding, 
piling  up  gold  on  gold,  intelligent,  full  of  ideas  and 
plans  for  his  children's  future." 

Gontran  came  back,  excited,  his  eyes  sparkling. 

He  said,  in  a  low  tone:  "Paul,  Paul,  pray  come 
along  with  me;  I'm  going  to  show  you  two  pretty 
girls;  yes,  indeed,   nice  girls,  you  know!" 

The  other  raised  his  head,  and  replied:  "My  dear 
fellow,  I'm  in  very  good  quarters  here;  I'll  not  budge." 

"You're  wrong.  They  are  charming!"  Then,  in 
a  louder  tone:    "But   the   doctor   is   going  to  tell   mc 


MONT    ORIOL 


33 


who  they  are.  Two  little  girls  of  eighteen  or  nine- 
teen, rustic  ladies,  oddly  dressed,  with  black  silk 
dresses  that  have  close-fitting  sleeves,  some  kind  of 
uniform  dresses,   convent-gowns  —  two  brunettes  —  " 

Doctor  Honorat  interrupted  him:  "That's  enough. 
They  are  Pere  Oriol's  daughters,  two  pretty  young 
girls  indeed,  educated  at  the  Benedictine  Convent  at 
Clermont,  and  sure  to  make  very  good  matches. 
They  are  two  types,  but  simply  types  of  our  race,  of 
the  fine  race  of  women  of  Auvergne,  Marquis.  I  will 
show  you  these   two  little  lasses  — " 

Gontran  here  slyly  interposed:  "You  are  the  med- 
ical adviser  of  the  Oriol  family,  doctor?" 

The  other  appreciated  this  sly  question,  and  simply 
responded  with  a  "  By  Jove,  I  am!"  uttered  in  atone 
of  the  utmost  good-humor. 

The  young  man  went  on:  "How  did  you  come 
to  win  the  confidence  of  this  rich  patient?" 

"By  ordering  him  to  drink  a  great  deal  of  good 
wine."  And  he  told  a  number  of  anecdotes  about 
the  Oriols.  Moreover,  he  was  distantly  related  to 
them,  and  had  known  them  for  a  considerable  time. 
The  old  fellow,  the  father,  quite  an  original,  was  very 
proud  of  his  wine;  and  above  all  he  had  one  vine- 
garden,  the  produce  of  which  was  reserved  for  the 
use  of  the  family,  solely  for  the  family  and  their 
guests.  In  certain  years  they  happened  to  empty  the 
casks  filled  with  the  growth  of  this  aristocratic  vine- 
yard, but  in  other  years  they  scarcely  succeeded  in 
doing  so.  About  the  month  of  May  or  June,  when 
the  father  saw  that  it  would  be  hard  to  drink  all  that 
was  still  left,  he  would  proceed  to  encourage  his  big 
son,  Colosse,  and  would  repeat:    "Come  on,  son,  we 

8    G.  de  M.— J 


^4  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

must  finish  it."  Then  they  would  go  on  pouring 
down  their  throats  pints  of  red  wine  from  morning 
till  night.  Twenty  times  during  every  meal,  the  old 
chap  would  say  in  a  grave  tone,  while  he  held  the 
jug  over  his  son's  glass:  "We  must  finish  it."  And, 
as  all  this  liquor  with  its  mixture  of  alcohol  heated 
his  blood  and  prevented  him  from  sleeping,  he  would 
rise  up  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  draw  on  his 
breeches,  light  a  lantern,  wake  up  Colosse,  and  off 
they  would  go  to  the  cellar,  after  snatching  a  crust 
of  bread  each  out  of  the  cupboard,  in  order  to  steep 
it  in  their  glasses,  filled  up  again  and  again  out  of 
the  same  cask.  Then,  when  they  had  swallowed  so 
much  wine  that  they  could  feel  it  rolling  about  in 
their  stomachs,  the  father  would  tap  the  resounding 
wood  of  the  cask  to  find  out  whether  the  level  of 
the  liquor  had  gone  down. 

The  Marquis  asked:  "Are  these  the  same  people 
that  are  working  at  the  hillock?" 

"Yes,  yes,  exactly." 

Just  at  that  moment  the  two  men  hurried  off  with 
giant  strides  from  the  rock  charged  with  powder, 
and  all  the  crowd  that  surrounded  them  down  be- 
low began  to  run  away  like  a  retreating  army.  They 
fied  in  the  direction  of  Riom  and  Enval,  leaving 
behind  them  by  itself  the  huge  rock  on  the  top  of 
the  hillock  covered  with  thin  grass  and  pebbles,  for 
it  divided  the  vineyard  into  two  sections,  and  its 
immediate  surroundings  had  not  been  grubbed  up 
yet. 

The  crowd  assembled  on  the  slope  above,  now  as 
dense  as  that  below,  waited  in  trembling  expectancy; 
and  the  loud  voice  of  Petrus  Martel  exclaimed: 


MONT    ORIOL 


35 


"Attention!  the  fuse  is  lit!" 

Christiane  shivered  at  the  thought  of  what  was 
about  to  happen,  but  the  doctor  murmured  behind 
her  back: 

"Ho!  if  they  left  there  all  the  fuse  I  saw  them 
buying,  we'll  have  ten  minutes  of  it!" 

All  eyes  were  fixed  on  the  stone,  and  suddenly  a 
dog,  a  little  black  dog,  a  kind  of  pug,  was  seen  ap- 
proaching it.  He  ran  round  it,  began  smelling,  and 
no  doubt,  discovered  a  suspicious  odor,  for  he  com- 
menced yelping  as  loudly  as  ever  he  could,  his  paws 
stiff,  the  hair  on  his  back  standing  on  end,  his  tail 
sticking  out,  and  his  ears  erect. 

A  burst  of  laughter  came  from  the  spectators,  a 
cruel  burst  of  laughter;  people  expressed  a  hope  that 
he  would  not  keep  riveted  to  the  spot  up  to  the 
time  of  the  blast.  Then  voices  called  out  to  him  to 
make  him  come  back;  some  men  whistled  to  him; 
they  tried  to  hit  him  with  stones  to  prevent  him 
from  going  on  the  whole  way.  But  the  pug  did  not 
budge  an  inch,  and  kept  barking  furiously  at  the 
rock. 

Christiane  began  to  tremble.  A  horrible  fear  of 
seeing  the  animal  disemboweled  took  possession  of 
her;  all  her  enjoyment  was  at  an  end.  She  cried  re- 
peatedly, with  nerves  unstrung,  stammering,  vibrating 
all  over  with  anguish: 

"Oh!  good  heavens!  Oh!  good  heavens!  it  will 
be  killed.  1  don't  want  to  look  at  it!  1  don't  want 
to  look  at  it!  I  will  not  wait  to  see  it!  Come 
away!" 

Paul  Bretigny,  who  had  been  sitting  by  her  side, 
arose,  and,  without    saying    one  word,    began  to   de- 


^  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

scend  toward  the  hillock  with  all  the  speed  of  which 
his  long  legs  were  capable. 

Cries  of  terror  escaped  from  many  lips;  a  panic 
agitated  the  crowd;  and  the  pug,  seeing  this  big  man 
coming  toward  him,  took  refuge  behind  the  rock. 
Paul  pursued  him;  the  dog  ran  off  to  the  other  side; 
and,  for  a  minute  or  two,  they  kept  rushing  round 
the  stone,  now  to  right,  now  to  left,  as  if  they  were 
playing  a  game  of  hide  and  seek.  Seeing  at  last  that 
he  could  not  overtake  the  animal,  the  young  man 
proceeded  to  reascend  the  slope,  and  the  dog,  seized 
once  more  with  fury,  renewed  his  barking. 

Vociferations  of  anger  greeted  the  return  of  the 
imprudent  youth,  who  was  quite  out  of  breath,  for 
people  do  not  forgive  those  who  excite  terror  in  their 
breasts.  Christiane  v/as  suffocating  with  emotion, 
her  two  hands  pressed  against  her  palpitating  heart. 
She  had  lost  her  head  so  completely  that  she  sobbed: 
"At  least  you  are  not  hurt.?"  while  Gontran  cried 
angrily: 

"He  is  mad,  that  idiot;  he  never  does  anything 
but  tomfooleries  of  this  kind.  1  never  met  a  greater 
donkey!" 

But  the  soil  was  now  shaking;  it  rose  in  air.  A 
formidable  detonation  made  the  entire  country  all 
around  vibrate,  and  for  a  full  minute  thundered  over 
the  mountain,  while  all  the  echoes  repeated  it,  like  so 
many  cannon-shots. 

Christiane  saw  nothing  but  a  shower  of  stones 
falling,  and  a  high  column  of  light  clay  sinking 
in  a  heap.  And  immediately  afterward  the  crowd 
from  above  rushed  down  like  a  wave,  uttering  wild 
shouts.    The  battalion  of  kitchen-drudges  came  racing 


MONTORIOL  yj 

down  in  the  direction  of  the  knoll,  leaving  behind 
them  the  regiment  of  theatrical  performers,  who  de- 
scended more  slowly,  with  Petrus  Martei  at  their 
head.  The  three  parasols  forming  a  tricolor  were 
nearly  carried  away  in  this  descent. 

And  all  ran,  men,  women,  peasants,  and  villagers. 
They  could  be  seen  falling,  getting  up  again,  starting 
on  afresh,  while  in  long  procession  the  two  streams 
of  people,  which  had  till  now  been  kept  back  by 
fear,  rolled  along  so  as  to  knock  against  one  another 
and  get  mixed  up  on  the  very  spot  where  the  ex- 
plosion had  taken  place. 

"Let  us  wait  a  while,"  said  the  Marquis,  "till  all 
this  curiosity  is  satisfied,  so  that  we  may  go  and 
look  in  our  turn." 

The  engineer,  M.  Aubry-Pasteur,  who  had  just 
arisen  with  very  great  difficulty,  replied: 

"For  my  part,  I  am  going  back  to  the  village  by 
the  footpaths.  There  is  nothing  further  to  keep  me 
here." 

He  shook  hands,  bowed,  and  went  away. 

Doctor  Honorat  had  disappeared.  The  party  talked 
about  him,  and  the  Marquis  said  to  his  son; 

"You  have  only  known  him  three  days,  and  all 
the  time  you  have  been  laughing  at  him.  You  will 
end  by  offending  him." 

But  Gontran  shrugged  his  shoulders:  "Oh!  he's 
a  wise  man,  a  good  sceptic,  that  doctor.  I  tell  you 
in  reply  that  he  will  not  bother  himself.  When  we 
are  both  alone  together,  he  laughs  at  all  the  world 
and  everything,  commencing  with  his  patients  and 
his  waters.  1  will  give  you  a  free  thermal  course  if 
you  ever  see  him  annoyed  by  my  nonsense." 


38 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


Meanwhile,  there  was  considerable  agitation  further 
down  around  the  site  of  the  vanished  hillock.  The 
enormous  crowd,  swelling,  rising  up,  and  sinking 
down  like  billows,  broke  out  into  exclamations,  mani- 
festly swayed  by  some  emotion,  some  astonishing  oc- 
currence which  nobody  had  foreseen.  Andermatt, 
ever  eager  and  inquisitive,  was  repeating: 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  them  now  ?  What  can 
be  the  matter  with  them?" 

Gontran  announced  that  he  was  going  to  fmd  out, 
and  walked  off.  Christiane,  who  had  now  sunk  into 
a  state  of  indifference,  was  reflecting  that  if  the  ig- 
niting substance  had  been  only  a  little  shorter,  it 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  have  caused  the  death 
of  their  foolish  companion  or  led  to  his  being  muti- 
lated by  the  blasting  of  the  rock,  and  all  because 
she  was  afraid  of  a  dog  losing  its  life.  She  could 
not  help  thinking  that  he  must,  indeed,  be  very  vio- 
lent and  passionate  —  this  man  —  to  expose  himself 
to  such  a  risk  in  this  way  without  any  good  reason 
for  it  —  simply  owing  to  the  fact  that  a  woman  who 
was  a  stranger  to  him  had  given  expression  to  a 
desire. 

People  could  be  observed  running  along  the  road 
toward  the  village.  The  Marquis  now  asked,  in  his 
turn:  "What  is  the  matter  with  them  ?"  And  Ander- 
matt, unable  to  stand  it  any  longer,  began  to  run 
down  the  side  of  the  hill.  Gontran,  from  below, 
made  a  sign  to  him  to  come  on. 

Paul  Bretigny  asked:  "Will  you  take  my  arm, 
Madame?"  She  took  his  arm,  which  seemed  to  her 
as  immovable  as  iron,  and,  as  her  feet  glided  along 
the  warm  grass,  she    leaned  on  it  as  she  would  have 


MONT    ORIOL 


y^ 


leaned  on  a  baluster  with  a  sense  of  absolute  security. 
Gontran,  who  had  just  come  back  after  making  in- 
quiries, exclaimed:  "It  is  a  spring.  The  explosion 
has  made  a  spring  gush  out!" 

And  they  fell  in  with  the  crowd.  Then,  the  two 
young  men,  Paul  and  Gontran,  moving  on  in  front, 
scattered  the  spectators  by  jostling  against  them,  and 
without  paying  any  heed  to  their  gruntings,  opened 
a  way  for  Christiane  and  her  father.  They  walked 
through  a  chaos  of  sharp  stones,  broken,  and  black- 
ened with  powder,  and  arrived  in  front  of  a  hole  full 
of  muddy  water  which  bubbled  up  and  then  flowed 
away  toward  the  river  over  the  feet  of  the  bystanders. 
Andermatt  was  there  already,  having  effected  a  pas- 
sage through  the  multitude  by  insinuating  ways  pe- 
culiar to  himself,  as  Gontran  used  to  say,  and  was 
watching  with  rapt  attention  the  water  escaping 
through  the  broken  soil. 

Doctor  Honorat,  facing  him  at  the  opposite  side  of 
the  hole,  was  observing  him  with  an  air  of  mingled 
surprise  and  boredom. 

Andermatt  said  to  him:  "It  might  be  desirable  to 
taste  it;  it  is  perhaps  a  mineral  spring." 

The  physician  returned:  "No  doubt  it  is  mineral. 
There  are  any  number  of  mineral  waters  here.  There 
will  soon  be  more  springs  than  invalids." 

The  other  in  reply  said:  "But  it  is  necessary  to 
taste  it." 

The  physician  displayed  little  or  no  interest  in  the 
matter:  "It  is  necessary  at  least  to  wait  till  we  see 
whether  it  is  clean." 

And  everyone  wanted  to  see.  Those  in  the  second 
row   pushed   those   in   front   almost   into    the   muddy 


40 


WORKS  OF  GUY  DE  MAUPASSANT 


water.  A  child  fell  in,  and  caused  a  laugh.  The 
Oriols,  father  and  son,  were  there,  contemplating 
gravely  this  unexpected  phenomenon,  not  knowing 
yet  what  they  ought  to  think  about  it.  The  father 
was  a  spare  man,  with  a  long,  thin  frame,  and  a 
bony  head — the  hard  head  of  a  beardless  peasant; 
and  the  son,  taller  still,  a  giant,  thin  also,  and  wear- 
ing a  mustache,  had  the  look  at  the  same  time  of  a 
trooper  and  a  vinedresser. 

The  bubblings  of  the  water  appeared  to  increase, 
its  volume  to  grow  larger,  and  it  was  beginning  to 
get  clearer.  A  movement  took  place  among  the-  peo- 
ple, and  Doctor  Latonne  appeared  with  a  glass  in  his 
hand.  He  perspired,  panted,  and  stood  quite  stupe- 
fied at  the  sight  of  his  brother-physician,  Doctor  Hon- 
orat,  with  one  foot  planted  at  the  side  of  the 
newly  discovered  spring,  like  a  general  who  has  been 
the  first  to  enter  a  fortress. 

He  asked,  breathlessly:  "Have  you  tasted  it?" 

"No,  I  am  waiting  to  see  whether  'tis  clear." 
Then  Doctor  Latonne  thrust  his  glass  into  it,  and 
drank  with  that  solemnity  of  visage  which  experts 
assume  when  tasting  wines.  After  that,  he  exclaimed, 
"Excellent!"  which  in  no  way  compromised  him, 
and  extending  the  glass  toward  his  rival  said:  "Do 
you  wish  to  taste  it?" 

But  Doctor  Honorat,  decidedly,  had  no  love  for 
mineral  waters,  for  he  smilingly   replied: 

"Many  thanks  1  'Tis  quite  sufficient  that  you  have 
appreciated  it.     1  know  the  taste  of  them." 

He  did  know  the  taste  of  them  all,  and  he  ap- 
preciated it,  too,  though  in  quite  a  different  fash- 
ion.    Then,  turning  toward  Pi^re  Oriol  said: 


MONT    ORIOL 


41 


"'Tisn't  as  good  as  your  excellent    vine-growth." 

The  old  man  was  flattered.  Christiane  had  seen 
enough,  and  wanted  to  go  away.  Her  brother  and 
Paul  once  more  forced  a  path  for  her  through  the 
populace.  She  followed  them,  leaning  on  her  father's 
arm.  Suddenly  she  slipped  and  was  near  falling, 
and  glancing  down  at  her  feet  she  saw  that  she  had 
stepped  on  a  piece  of  bleeding  flesh,  covered  with 
black  hairs  and  sticky  with  mud.  It  was  a  portion 
of  the  pug-dog,  who  had  been  mangled  by  the  ex- 
plosion and  trampled  underfoot  by  the  crowd.  She 
felt  a  choking  sensation,  and  was  so  much  moved 
that  she  could  not  restrain  her  tears.  And  she  mur- 
mured, as  she  dried  her  eyes  with  her  handkerchief: 
*'Poor  little  animal!  poor  little  animal!" 

She  wanted  to  know  nothing  more  about  it.  She 
wished  to  go  back,  to  shut  herself  up  in  her  room. 
That  day,  which  had  begun  so  pleasantly,  had  ended 
sadly  for  her.  Was  it  an  omen  ?  Her  heart,  shrivel- 
ing up,  beat  with  violent  palpitations.  They  were 
now  alone  on  the  road,  and  in  front  of  them  they 
saw  a  tall  hat  and  the  two  skirts  of  a  frock-coat  flap- 
ping like  wings.  It  was  Doctor  Bonnefille,  who  had 
been  the  last  to  hear  the  news,  and  who  was  now 
rushing  to  the  spot,  glass  in  hand,  like  Doctor  La- 
tonne. 

When  he  recognized  the  Marquis,  he  drew  up. 

"What  is  this  I  hear.  Marquis?  They  tell  me  it 
is  a  spring  —  a  mineral  spring?" 

"  Yes,  my  dear  doctor." 

"Abundant?" 

"Why,  yes." 

"Is  it  true  that  — that  they  are  there?" 


42  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Gontran  replied  with  an  air  of  gravity:  "Why, 
yes,  certainly;  Doctor  Latonne  has  even  made  the 
analysis  already." 

Then  Doctor  Bonnefille  began  to  run,  while  Chris- 
tiane,  a  little  tickled  and  enlivened  by  his  face,  said: 

"Well,  no,  I  am  not  going  back  yet  to  the  hotel. 
Let  us  go  and  sit  down  in  the  park." 

Andermatt  had  remained  at  the  site  of  the  knoll, 
watching  the  flowing  of  the  water. 


CHAPTER   III, 

Bargaining 


HE  table  d'hote  was  noisy  that  even- 
ing at  the  Hotel  Splendid.  The 
blasting  of  the  hillock  and  the  dis- 
covery of  the  new  spring  gave  a 
brisk  impetus  to  conversation.  The 
diners  were  not  numerous,  however, 
—  a  score  all  told, —  people  usually  taci- 
turn and  quiet,  patients  who,  after  having 
vainly  tried  all  the  well-known  waters, 
K  2L  H  ^^"^  "°^  turned  to  the  new  stations.  At 
^^•T-**  the  end  of  the  table  occupied  by  the  Rave- 
nels  and  the  Andermatts  were,  first,  the  Mone- 
cus,  a  little  man  with  white  hair  and  face  and 
his  daughter,  a  very  pale,  big  girl,  who  sometimes 
rose  up  and  went  out  in  the  middle  of  a  meal,  leav- 
ing her  plate  half  full;  fat  M.  Aubry-Pasteur,  the  ex- 
engineer;  the  Chaufours,  a  fiimily  in  black,  who 
every  day  in  the  walks  of  the  park 
vehicle  which  carried  their  deformed 
ladies  Paille,  mother  and  daughter, 
both  of  them  widows,  big  and  strong,  strong  every- 
where, before    and    behind.     "You   may   easily   see," 

(43) 


might 


be 


met 

behind   a   little 
child,  and    the 


44 


WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


said  Gontran,  "that  they  ate  up  their  husbands; 
that's  how  their  stomachs  got  affected."  It  was,  in- 
deed, for  a  stomach  affection  that  they  had  come  to 
the  station. 

Further  on,  a  man  of  extremely  red  complexion, 
brick-colored,  M.  Riquier,  whose  digestion  was  also 
very  indifferent,  and  then  other  persons  with  bad 
complexions,  travelers  of  that  mute  class  who  usually 
enter  the  dining-rooms  of  hotels  with  slow  steps,  the 
wife  in  front,  the  husband  behind,  bow  as  soon  as 
they  have  passed  the  door,  and  then  take  their  seats 
with  a  timid  and  modest  air. 

All  the  other  end  of  the  table  was  empty,  al- 
though the  plates  and  the  covers  v.'ere  laid  there  for 
the  guests  of  the  future. 

Andermatt  talked  in  an  animated  fashion.  He  had 
spent  the  afternoon  chatting  with  Doctor  Latonne, 
giving  vent  in  a  flood  of  words  to  vast  schemes  with 
reference  to  Enval.  The  doctor  had  enumerated  to 
him,  with  burning  conviction,  the  wonderful  quali- 
ties of  his  water,  far  superior  to  those  of  Chatel- 
Guyon,  whose  reputation  nevertheless  had  been  defi- 
nitely established  for  the  last  ten  years.  Then,  at 
the  right,  they  had  that  hole  of  a  place,  Royat,  at 
the  height  of  success,  and  at  the  left,  that  other  hole, 
Chatel-Guyon,  which  had  lately  been  set  afloat. 
What  could  they  not  do  with  Enval,  if  they  knew 
how  to  set  about  it  properly  ? 

He  said,  addressing  the  engineer:  "Yes,  Mon- 
sieur, there's  where  it  all  is,  to  know  the  way  to  set 
about  it.  It  is  all  a  matter  of  skill,  of  tact,  of  op- 
portunism, and  of  audacity.  In  order  to  establish  a 
spa,  it  is  necessary  to  know  how  to  launch  it,   noth- 


MONT    ORIOL 


45 


ing  more,  and  in  order  to  launch  it,  it  is  necessary 
to  interest  the  great  medical  body  of  Paris  in  the 
matter.  I,  Monsieur,  always  succeed  in  what  I  un- 
dertake, because  I  always  seek  the  practical  method, 
the  only  one  that  should  determine  success  in  every 
particular  case  with  which  I  occupy  myself;  and,  as 
long  as  1  have  not  discovered  it,  1  do  nothing — I 
wait,  it  is  not  enough  to  have  the  water,  it  is  nec- 
essary to  get  people  to  drink  it;  and  to  get  people 
to  drink  it,  it  is  not  enough  to  get  it  cried  up  as 
unrivaled  in  the  newspapers  and  elsewhere;  it  is 
necessary  to  know  how  to  get  this  discreetly  said  by 
the  only  men  who  have  influence  on  the  public  that 
will  drink  it,  on  the  invalids  whom  we  require,  on  the 
peculiarly  credulous  public  that  pays  for  drugs  —  in 
short,  by  the  physicians.  You  can  only  address  a  Court 
of  Justice  through  the  mouths  of  advocates;  it  will 
only  hear  them,  and  understands  only  them.  So  you 
can  only  address  the  patient  through  the  doctors  — 
he  listens  only  to  them." 

The  Marquis,  who  greatly  admired  the  practical 
common  sense  of  his  son-in-law,  exclaimed: 

"Ah!  how  true  this  is!  Apart  from  this,  my  dear 
boy,  you  are  unique  for  giving  the  right  touch." 

Andermatt,  who  was  excited,  went  on:  "There 
is  a  fortune  to  be  made  here.  The  country  is  admi- 
rable, the  climate  excellent.  One  thing  alone  disturbs 
my  mind  —  would  we  have  water  enough  for  a  large 
establishment?  —  for  things  that  are  only  half  done 
always  miscarry.  We  would  require  a  very  large  es- 
tablishment, and  consequently  a  great  deal  of  water, 
enough  of  water  to  supply  two  hundred  baths  at  the 
same  time,  with  a  rapid  and  continuous  current;  and 


46  WORKS  OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

the  new  spring  added  to  the  old  one,  would  not  sup- 
ply fifty,  whatever  Doctor  Latonne  may  say  about 
it  —  " 

M.  Aubry-Pasteur  interrupted  him.  "Oh!  as  for 
water,   I  will  give  you  as  much  as  you  want  of  it." 

Andermatt  was  stupefied.     "You?" 

"Yes,  I.  That  astonishes  you.?  Let  me  explain 
myself.  Last  year,  I  was  here  about  the  same  time 
as  this  year,  for  1  really  find  myself  improved  by  the 
Enval  baths.  Now  one  morning,  I  lay  asleep  in  my 
own  room,  when  a  stout  gentleman  arrived.  He  was 
the  president  of  the  governing  body  of  the  establish- 
ment. He  was  in  a  state  of  great  agitation,  and  the 
cause  of  it  was  this:  the  Bonnefille  Spring  had  low- 
ered so  much  that  there  were  some  apprehensions  lest 
it  might  entirely  disappear.  Knowing  that  I  was  a 
mining  engineer,  he  had  come  to  ask  me  if  I  could 
not  find  a  means  of  saving  the  establishment. 

"I  accordingly  set  about  studying  the  geological 
system  of  the  country.  You  know  that  in  each  stra- 
tum of  the  soil  original  disturbances  have  led  to 
different  changes  and  conditions  in  the  surface  of  the 
ground.  The  question,  therefore,  was  to  discover 
how  the  mineral  water  came  —  by  what  fissures  — 
and  what  were  the  direction,  the  origin,  and  the 
nature  of  these  fissures.  1  first  inspected  the  estab- 
lishment with  great  care,  and,  noticing  in  a  corner 
an  old  disused  pipe  of  a  bath,  I  observed  that  it  was 
already  almost  stopped  up  with  limestone.  Now  the 
water,  by  depositing  the  salts  which  it  contained  on 
the  coatings  of  the  ducts,  had  rapidly  led  to  an  ob- 
struction of  the  passage.  It  would  inevitably  happen 
likewise  in  the    natural   passages   in  the  soil,  this  soil 


MONT    ORIOL 


47 


being  granitic.  So  it  was  that  the  Bonnefille  Spring 
had  stopped  up.  Nothing  more.  It  was  necessary  to 
get  at  it  again  farther  on. 

"  Most  people  would  have  searched  above  its  original 
point  of  egress.  As  for  me,  after  a  month  of  study, 
observation,  and  reasoning,  I  sought  for  and  found  it 
fifty  meters  lower  down.  And  this  was  the  explana- 
tion of  the  matter:  I  told  you  before  that  it  was  first 
necessary  to  determine  the  origin,  nature,  and  direc- 
tion of  the  fissures  in  the  granite  which  enabled  the 
water  to  spring  forth.  It  was  easy  for  me  to  satisfy 
myself  that  these  fissures  ran  from  the  plain  toward 
the  mountain  and  not  from  the  mountain  toward  the 
plain,  inclined  like  a  roof  undoubtedly,  in  consequence 
of  a  depression  of  this  plain  which  in  breaking  up 
had  carried  along  with  it  the  primitive  buttresses  of 
the  mountains.  Accordingly,  the  water,  in  place  of 
descending,  rose  up  again  between  the  different  in- 
terstices of  the  granitic  layers.  And  I  then  discov- 
ered the  cause  of  this  unexpected  phenomenon. 

"Formerly  the  Limagne,  that  vast  expanse  of  sandy 
and  argillaceous  soil,  of  which  you  can  scarcely  see 
the  limits,  was  on  a  level  with  the  first  table-land  of 
the  mountains;  but  owing  to  the  geological  character 
of  its  lower  portions,  it  subsided,  so  as  to  tear  away 
the  edge  of  the  mountain,  as  I  explained  to  you 
a  moment  ago.  Now  this  immense  sinking  produced, 
at  the  point  of  separating  the  earth  and  the  granite,  an 
immense  barrier  of  chy  of  great  depth  and  impene- 
trable by  liquids.  And  this  is  what  happens:  The 
mineral  water  comes  from  the  beds  of  old  volcanoes. 
That  which  comes  from  the  greatest  distance  gets 
cooled   on   its   way,  and   rises   up   perfectly  cold   like 


^8  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

ordinary  springs;  that  which  comes  from  the  volcanic 
beds  that  are  nearer  gushes  up  still  warm,  at  vary- 
ing degrees  of  heat,  according  to  the  distance  of  the 
subterranean  fire. 

"Here  is  the  course  it  pursues.  It  is  expelled  from 
some  unknown  depths,  up  to  the  moment  when  it 
meets  the  clay  barrier  of  the  Limagne.  Not  being 
able  to  pass  through  it,  and  pushed  on  by  enormous 
pressure,  it  seeks  a  vent.  Finding  then  the  inclined 
gaps  of  granite,  it  gets  in  there,  and  reascends  to 
the  point  at  which  they  reach  the  level  of  the  soil. 
Then,  resuming  its  original  direction,  it  again  pro- 
ceeds to  flow  toward  the  plain  along  the  ordinary 
bed  of  the  streams.  1  may  add  that  we  do  not  see 
the  hundredth  part  of  the  mineral  waters  of  these 
glens.  We  can  only  discover  those  whose  point  of 
egress  is  open.  As  for  the  others,  arriving  as  they 
do  at  the  side  of  the  fissures  in  the  granite  under  a 
thick  layer  of  vegetable  and  cultivated  soil,  they  are 
lost  in  the  earth,  which  absorbs  them. 

"From  this  I  draw  the  conclusion:  first,  that  to 
have  the  water,  it  is  sufficient  to  search  by  following 
the  inclination  and  the  direction  of  the  superimposed 
strips  of  granite;  secondly,  that  in  order  to  preserve 
it,  it  is  enough  to  prevent  the  fissures  from  being 
stopped  up  by  calcareous  deposits,  that  is  to  say,  to 
maintain  carefully  the  little  artificial  wells  by  digging; 
thirdly,  that  in  order  to  obtain  the  adjoining  spring, 
it  is  necessary  to  get  at  it  by  means  of  a  practical 
sounding  as  far  as  the  same  fissure  of  granite  below, 
and  not  above,  it  being  well  understood  that  you 
must  place  yourself  at  the  side  of  the  barrier  of  clay 
which  forces  the  waters  to  reascend.     From  this  point 


MONT    ORIOL 


49 


of  view,  the  spring  discovered  to-day  is  admirably 
situated  only  some  meters  away  from  this  barrier.  If 
you  want  to  set  up  a  new  establishment,  it  is  here 
you  should  erect  it." 

When  he  ceased  speaking,  there  was  an  interval 
of  silence. 

Andermatt,  ravished,  said  merely:  "That's  it! 
When  you  see  the  curtain  drawn,  the  entire  mystery 
vanishes.  You  are  a  most  valuable  man,  M.  Aubry- 
Pasteur." 

Besides  him,  the  Marquis  and  Paul  Bretigny  alone 
had  understood  what  he  was  talking  about.  Gontran 
had  not  heard  a  single  word.  The  others,  with  their 
ears  and  mouths  open,  while  the  engineer  was  talk- 
ing, were  simply  stupefied  with  amazement.  The 
ladies  Paille  especially,  being  very  religious  women, 
asked  themselves  if  this  explanation  of  a  phenomenon 
ordained  by  God  and  accomplished  by  mysterious 
means  had  not  in  it  something  profane.  The  mother 
thought  she  ought  to  say:  "Providence  is  very  won- 
derful." The  ladies  seated  at  the  center  of  the  table 
conveyed  their  approval  by  nods  of  the  head,  dis- 
turbed also  by  listening  to  these  unintelligible  re- 
marks. 

M.  Riquier,  the  brick-colored  man,  observed: 
"They  may  well  come  from  volcanoes  or  from  the 
moon,  these  Enval  waters  —  here  have  I  been  taking 
them  ten  days,  and  as  yet  1  experience  no  effect 
from  them!" 

M.  and  Madame  Chaufour  protested  in  the  name 
of  their  child,  who  was  beginning  to  move  the  right 
leg,  a  thing  that  had  not  happened  during  the  six 
years  they  had  been  nursing  him. 

8    G.  deM.-4 


50  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Riquier  replied:  "That  proves,  by  Jove,  that  we 
have  not  the  same  ailment;  it  doesn't  prove  that  the 
Enval  water  cures  affections  of  the  stomach."  He 
seemed  in  a  rage,  exasperated  by  this  fresh,  useless 
experiment. 

But  M.  Monecu  also  spoke  in  the  name  of  his 
daughter,  declaring  that  for  the  last  eight  days  she 
was  beginning  to  be  able  to  retain  food  without  be- 
ing obliged  to  go  out  at  every  meal.  And  his  big 
daughter  blushed,  with  her  nose  in  her  plate.  The 
ladies  Paille  likewise  thought  they  had  improved. 

Then  Riquier  was  vexed,  and  abruptly  turning  to- 
ward the  two  women  said: 

"Your  stomachs  are  affected,  Mesdames." 

They  replied  together:  "Why,  yes,  Monsieur. 
We  can  digest  nothing." 

He  nearly  leaped  out  of  his  chair,  stammering: 
"You  —  you!  Why,  'tis  enough  to  look  at  you. 
Your  stomachs  are  affected,  Mesdames.  That  is  to 
say,  you  eat  too  much." 

Madame  Paille,  the  mother,  became  very  angry, 
and  she  retorted:  "As  for  you,  Monsieur,  there  is 
no  doubt  about  it,  you  exhibit  certainly  the  appear- 
ance of  persons  whose  stomachs  are  destroyed.  It 
has  been  well  said  that  good  stomachs  make  nice 
men." 

A  very  thin,  old  lady,  whose  name  was  not  known, 
said  authoritatively:  "I  am  sure  everyone  would  find 
the  waters  of  Enval  better  if  the  hotel  chef  would 
only  bear  in  mind  a  little  that  he  is  cooking  for  in- 
valids. Truly,  he  sends  us  up  things  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  digest." 

And  suddenly  the  entire  table  agreed  on  the  point. 


MONT    ORIOL 


51 


and  indignation  was  expressed  against  the  hotel- 
keeper,  who  served  them  with  crayfish,  porksteaks, 
salt  eels,  cabbage,  yes,  cabbage  and  sausages,  all  the 
most  indigestible  kinds  of  food  in  the  world  for  per- 
sons for  whom  Doctors  Bonnefille,  Latonne,  and 
Honorat  had  prescribed  only  white  meats,  lean  and 
tender,  fresh  vegetables,  and  milk  diet. 

Riquier  was  shaking  with  fury:  "Why  should  not 
the  physicians  inspect  the  table  at  thermal  stations . 
without  leaving  such  an  important  thing  as  the  selec- 
tion of  nutriment  to  the  judgment  of  a  brute?  Thus, 
every  day,  they  give  us  hard  eggs,  anchovies,  and 
ham  as  side-dishes  —  " 

M.  Monecu  interrupted  him:  "Oh!  excuse  me! 
My  daughter  can  digest  nothing  well  except  ham, 
which,  moreover  has  been  prescribed  for  her  by  Mas- 
Roussel  and  Remusot." 

Riquier  exclaimed:  "  Ham !  hami !  why,  that's  poison, 
Monsieur." 

And  an  interminable  argument  arose,  which  each 
day  was  taken  up  afresh,  as  to  the  classification  of 
foods.  Milk  itself  was  discussed  with  passionate 
warmth.  Riquier  could  not  drink  a  glass  of  claret 
and  milk  without  immediately  suffering  from  indiges- 
tion. 

Aubry-Pasteur,  in  answer  to  his  remarks,  irritated 
in  his  turn,  observed  that  people  questioned  the 
properties  of  things  which  he  adored: 

"Why,  gracious  goodness,  Monsieur,  if  you  were 
attacked  with  dyspepsia  and  I  with  gastralgia,  we 
would  require  food  as  different  as  the  glass  of  the 
spectacles  that  suits  short-sighted  and  long-sighted 
people,  both  of  whom,  however,  have  diseased  eyes." 


52 


WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 


He  added:  "For  my  part  I  begin  to  choke  when 
I  swallow  a  glass  of  red  wine,  and  I  believe  there  is 
nothing  worse  for  man  than  wine.  All  water-drinkers 
live  a  hundred  years,  while  we  — " 

Gontran  replied  with  a  laugh:  "Faith,  without 
wine  and  without  marriage,  1  would  find  life  monot- 
onous enough." 

The  ladies  Faille  lowered  their  eyes.  They  drank 
a  considerable  quantity  of  Bordeaux  of  the  best  qual- 
ity without  any  water  in  it,  and  their  double  widow- 
hood seemed  to  indicate  that  they  had  applied  the 
same  treatment  to  their  husbands,  the  daughter  being 
twenty-two  and  the  mother  scarcely  forty. 

But  Andermatt,  usually  so  chatty,  remained  taciturn 
and  thoughtful.  He  suddenly  asked  Gontran:  "Do 
you  know  where  the  Oriols  live?" 

"Yes,  their  house  was  pointed  out  to  me  a  little 
while  ago." 

"Could  you  bring  me  there  after  dinner?" 

"Certainly.  It  will  even  give  me  pleasure  to  ac- 
company you.  1  shall  not  be  sorry  to  have  another 
look  at  the  two  lassies." 

And,  as  soon  as  dinner  was  over,  they  went  off, 
while  Christiane,  who  was  tired,  went  up  with  the 
Marquis  and  Paul  Bretigny  to  spend  the  rest  of  the 
day  in  the  drawing-room. 

It  was  still  broad  daylight,  for  they  dine  early  at 
thermal  stations. 

Andermatt  took  his  brother-in-law's  arm. 

"My  dear  Gontran,  if  this  old  man  is  reasonable, 
and  if  the  analysis  realizes  Doctor  Latonne's  expecta- 
tions, I  am  probably  going  to  try  a  big  stroke  ol 
business   here  —  a   spa.     1  am  going  to   start  a  spa!" 


MONT    OR  lOL 


53 


He  stopped  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  and  seized 
his  companion  by  both  sides  of  his  jacket. 

"Ha!  you  don't  understand,  fellows  like  you,  how 
amusing  business  is,  not  the  business  of  merchants 
or  traders,  but  big  undertakings  such  as  we  go  in 
for!  Yes,  my  boy,  when  they  are  properly  under- 
stood, we  find  in  them  everything  that  men  care  for 
—  they  cover,  at  the  same  time,  politics,  war,  di- 
plomacy, everything,  everything!  It  is  necessary  to 
be  always  searching,  finding,  inventing,  to  understand 
everything,  to  foresee  everything,  to  combine  every- 
thing, to  dare  everything.  The  great  battle  to-day  is 
being  fought  by  means  of  money.  For  my  part,  1 
see  in  the  hundred-sou  pieces  raw  recruits  in  red 
breeches,  in  the  twenty-franc  pieces  very  glittering 
lieutenants,  captains  in  the  notes  for  a  hundred  francs, 
and  in  those  for  a  thousand  I  see  generals.  And  1 
fight,  by  heavens!  1  fight  from  morning  till  night 
against  all  the  world,  with  all  the  world.  And  this 
is  how  to  live,  how  to  live  on  a  big  scale,  just 
as  the  mighty  lived  in  days  of  yore.  We  are  the 
mighty  of  to-day  —  there  you  are  —  the  only  true 
mighty  ones! 

"Stop,  look  at  that  village,  that  poor  village!  I 
will  make  a  town  of  it,  yes,  1  will,  a  lovely  town 
full  of  big  hotels  which  will  be  filled  with  visitors, 
with  elevators,  with  servants,  with  carriages,  a  crowd 
of  rich  folk  served  by  a  crowd  of  poor;  and  all  this 
because  it  pleased  me  one  evening  to  fight  with 
Royat,  which  is  at  the  right,  with  Chatel-Guyon, 
which  is  at  the  left,  with  Mont  Dore,  La  Bourboule, 
Chateauneuf,  Saint  Nectaire,  which  are  behind  us, 
with  Vichy,  which  is  facing  us.     And  '  s.hall  succeed 


54 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


because  I  have  the  means,  the  only  means.  I  have 
seen  it  in  one  glance,  just  as  a  great  general  sees  the 
weak  side  of  an  enemy.  It  is  necessary  too  to  know 
how  to  lead  men,  in  our  line  of  business,  both 
to  carry  them  along  with  us  and  to  subjugate 
them. 

"Good  God!  life  becomes  amusing  when  you  can 
do  such  things.  I  have  now  three  years  of  pleasure 
to  look  forward  to  with  this  town  of  mine.  And 
then  see  what  a  chance  it  is  to  find  this  engineer, 
who  told  us  such  interesting  things  at  dinner,  most 
interesting  things,  my  dear  fellow.  It  is  as  clear  as 
day,  my  system.  Thanks  to  it,  I  can  smash  the  old 
company,  without  even  having  any  necessity  of  buy- 
ing it  up." 

He  then  resumed  his  walk,  and  they  quietly  went 
up  the  road  to  the  left  in  the  direction  of  Chatel- 
Guyon." 

Gontran  presently  observed:  "When  I  am  walk- 
ing by  my  brother-in-law's  side,  1  feel  that  the  same 
noise  disturbs  his  brain  as  that  heard  in  the  gambling 
rooms  at  Monte  Carlo  —  that  noise  of  gold  moved 
about,  shuffled,  drawn  away,  raked  off,  lost  or 
gained." 

Andermatt  did,  indeed,  suggest  the  idea  of  a 
strange  human  machine,  constructed  only  for  the 
purpose  of  calculating  and  debating  about  money, 
and  mentally  manipulating  it.  Moreover,  he  exhibited 
much  vanity  about  his  special  knowledge  of  the 
world,  and  plumed  himself  on  his  power  of  estima- 
ting at  one  glance  of  his  eye  the  actual  value  of  any- 
thing whatever.  Accordingly,  he  might  be  seen, 
wherever   he    happened  to   be,  every   moment   taking 


MONTORIOL  55 

Up    an    article,    examining   it,    turning    it    round,    and 
declaring:  "This  is  worth  so  much." 

His  wife  and  his  brother-in-law,  diverted  by  this 
mania,  used  to  amuse  themselves  by  deceiving  him, 
exhibiting  to  him  queer  pieces  of  furniture  and  asking 
him  to  estimate  them;  and  when  he  remained  per- 
plexed, at  the  sight  of  their  unexpected  finds,  they 
would  both  burst  out  laughing  like  fools.  Some- 
times also,  in  the  street  at  Paris,  Gontran  would  stop 
in  front  of  a  warehouse  and  force  him  to  make  a 
calculation  of  an  entire  shop-window,  or  perhaps  of 
a  horse  with  a  jolting  vehicle,  or  else  again  of  a 
luggage-van  laden  with  household  goods. 

One  evening,  while  seated  at  his  sister's  dinner- 
table  before  fashionable  guests,  he  called  on  WiIIi;im 
to  tell  him  what  would  be  the  approximate  value  of 
the  Obelisk;  then,  when  the  other  happened  to  name 
some  figure,  he  would  put  the  same  question  as  to 
the  Solferino  Bridge,  and  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  de 
I'Etoile.  And  he  gravely  concluded:  "You  might 
write  a  very  interesting  work  on  the  valuation  of  the 
principal  monuments  of  the  globe."  Andermatt  never 
got  angry,  and  fell  in  with  all  his  pleasantries,  like  a 
superior  man  sure  of  himself. 

Gontran  having  asked  one  day:  "And  I  —  how 
much  am  1  worth?"  William  declined  to  answer; 
then,  as  his  brother-in-law  persisted,  saying:  "Look 
here!  If  1  should  be  captured  by  brigands,  how 
much  would  you  give  to  release  me?"  he  replied 
at  last:  "Well,  well,  my  dear  fellow,  1  would  give 
a  bill."  And  his  smile  said  so  much  that  the 
other,  a  little  disconcerted,  did  not  press  the  matter 
further. 


56  WORK^   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Andermatt,  besides,  was  fond  of  artistic  objects, 
and  having  fine  taste  and  appreciating  such  things 
thoroughly,  he  skillfully  collected  them  with  that 
bloodhound's  scent  which  he  carried  into  all  com- 
mercial transactions. 

They  had  arrived  in  front  of  a  house  of  a  middle- 
class  type.  Gontran  stopped  him  and  said:  "Here  it 
is."  An  iron  knocker  hung  over  a  heavy  oaken  door; 
they  knocked,  and  a  lean  servant-maid  came  to 
open  it. 

The  banker  asked:  "Monsieur  Oriol?" 

The  woman  said:  "Come  in." 

They  entered  a  kitchen,  a  big  farm-kitchen,  in 
which  a  little  fire  was  still  burning  under  a  pot;  then 
they  were  ushered  into  another  part  of  the  house, 
where  the  Oriol  family  was  assembled. 

The  father  was  asleep,  seated  on  one  chair  with 
his  feet  on  another.  The  son,  with  both  elbows 
on  the  table,  was  reading  the  "Petit  Journal"  with 
the  spasmodic  efforts  of  a  feeble  intellect  always 
wandering;  and  the  two  girls,  in  the  recess  of  the 
same  window,  were  working  at  the  same  piece  of 
tapestry,  having  begun  it  one  at  each  end. 

They  were  the  first  to  rise,  both  at  the  same 
moment,  astonished  at  this  unexpected  visit;  then, 
big  Jacques  raised  his  head,  a  head  congested  by  the 
pressure  of  his  brain;  then,  at  last,  Pere  Oriol  waked 
up,  and  took  down  his  long  legs  from  the  second 
chair  one  after  the  other. 

The  room  was  bare,  with  whitewashed  walls,  a 
stone  flooring,  and  furniture  consisting  of  straw  seats, 
a  mahogany  chest  of  drawers,  four  engravings  by 
Epinal  with  glass  over  them,  and  big  white  curtains. 


MONT    ORIOL 


bl 


They  were  all  staring  at  each  other,  and  the  servant- 
maid,  with  her  petticoat  raised  up  to  her  knees,  was 
waiting  at  the  door,  riveted   to  the  spot  by  curiosity. 

Andermatt  introduced  himself,  mentioning  his  name 
as  well  as  that  of  his  brother-in-law.  Count  de  Ra- 
venel,  made  a  low  bow  to  the  two  young  girls, 
bending  his  head  with  extreme  politeness,  and  then 
calmly  seated  himself,  adding: 

"Monsieur  Oriol,  I  came  to  talk  to  you  about  a 
matter  of  business.  Moreover,  1  will  not  take  four 
roads  to  explain  myself.  See  here.  You  have  just 
discovered  a  spring  on  your  property.  The  analysis 
of  this  water  is  to  be  made  in  a  few  days.  If  it  is  of 
no  value,  you  will  understand  that  I  will  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  it;  if,  on  the  contrary,  it  fulfills  my 
anticipations,  I  propose  to  buy  from  you  this  piece 
of  ground,  and  all  the  lands  around  it.  Think  on  this. 
No  other  person  but  myself  could  make  you  such  an 
offer.  The  old  company  is  nearly  bankrupt;  it  will 
not,  therefore,  have  the  least  notion  of  building  a  new 
establishment,  and  the  ill  success  of  this  enterprise 
will  not  encourage  fresh  attempts.  Don't  give  me  an 
answer  to-day.  Consult  your  family.  When  the  analy- 
sis is  known  you  will  fix  your  price.  If  it  suits 
me,  1  will  say  'yes';  if  it  does  not  suit  me,  I  will 
say  'no.'     I  never  haggle  for  my  part." 

The  peasant,  a  man  of  business  in  his  own  way, 
and  sharp  as  anyone  could  be,  courteously  replied 
that  he  would  see  about  it,  that  he  felt  honored,  that 
he  would  think  it  over  —  and  then  he  offered  them  a 
glass  of  wine. 

Andermatt  made  no  objection,  and,  as  the  day  was 
declining,  Oriol  said  to   his   daughters,  who   had    re- 


^8   .  WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

sumed  their  work,  with   their  eyes  lowered  over  the 
piece  of  tapestry:  "Let  us  have  some  light,  girls." 

They  both  got  up  together,  passed  into  an  adjoin- 
ing room,  then  came  back,  one  carrying  two  lighted 
wax-candles,  the  other  four  wineglasses  without 
stems,  glasses  such  as  the  poor  use.  The  wax-candles 
were  fresh  looking  and  were  garnished  with  red 
paper  —  placed,  no  doubt,  by  way  of  ornament  on  the 
young  girl's  mantelpiece. 

Then,  Colosse  rose  up;  for  only  the  male  mem- 
bers of  the  family  visited  the  cellar.  Andermatt  had 
an  idea.  "It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  see 
your  cellar.  You  are  the  principal  vinedresser  of  the 
district,  and  it  must  be  a  very  fine  one." 

Oriol,  touched  to  the  heart,  hastened  to  conduct 
them,  and,  taking  up  one  of  the  wax-candles,  led  the 
way.  They  had  to  pass  through  the  kitchen  again, 
then  they  got  into  a  court  where  the  remnant  of  day- 
light that  was  left  enabled  them  to  discern  empty 
casks  standing  on  end,  big  stones  of  giant  granite  in 
a  corner  pierced  with  a  hole  in  the  middle,  like  the 
wheels  of  some  antique  car  of  colossal  size,  a  dis- 
mounted winepress  with  wooden  screws,  its  browr 
divisions  rendered  smooth  by  wear  and  tear,  and  gliv* 
tering  suddenly  in  the  light  thrown  by  the  cand.i 
on  the  shadows  that  surrounded  it.  Close  to  it,  the 
working  implements  of  polished  steel  on  the  ground 
had  the  glitter  of  arms  used  in  warfare.  All  these 
things  gradually  grew  more  distinct,  as  the  old  man 
drew  nearer  to  them  with  the  candle  in  his  hand, 
making  a  shade  of  the  other. 

Already  they  got  the  smell  of  the  wine,  the  pounded 
grapes    drained    dry.      They     arrived     in     front    of  a 


MONTORIOL  59 

door  fastened  with  two  locks.  Oriol  opened  it,  and 
quickly  raising  the  candle  above  his  head  vaguely 
pointed  toward  a  long  succession  of  barrels  standing 
in  a  row,  and  having  on  their  swelling  flanks  a  sec- 
ond line  of  smaller  casks.  He  showed  them  first  of 
all  that  this  cellar,  all  on  one  floor,  sank  right  into 
the  mountain,  then  he  explained  the  contents  of  its 
different  casks,  the  ages,  the  nature  of  the  various 
vine-crops,  and  their  merits;  then,  having  reached  the 
supply  reserved  for  the  family,  he  caressed  the  cask 
with  his  hand  just  as  one  might  rub  the  crupper  of  a 
favorite  horse,  and  in  a  proud  tone  said: 

"You  are  going  to  taste  this.  There's  not  a  wine 
bottled  equal  to  it  —  not  one,  either  at  Bordeaux  or 
elsewhere." 

For  he  possessed  the  intense  passion  of  country- 
men for  wine  kept  in  a  cask. 

Colosse  followed  him,  carrying  a  jug,  stooped 
down,  turned  the  cock  of  the  funnel,  while  his  father 
cautiously  held  the  light  for  him,  as  though  he  were 
accomplishing  some  difficult  task  requiring  minute 
attention.  The  candle's  flame  fell  directly  on  their 
faces,  the  father's  head  like  that  of  an  old  attorney, 
and  the  son's  like  that  of  a  peasant  soldier. 

Andermatt  murmured  in  Gontran's  ear:  "Hey, 
what  a  fine  Teniers!" 

The  young  man  replied  in  a  whisper:  "I  prefer 
the  girls." 

Then  they  went  back  into  the  house.  It  was  nec- 
essary, it  seemed,  to  drink  this  wine,  to  drink  a 
great  deal  of  it,  in  order  to  please  the  two  Oriols. 

The  lassies  had  come  across  to  the  table  where 
they  continued  their  work    as    if  there    had    been  no 


6o  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

visitors.  Gontran  kept  incessantly  staring  at  them, 
asking  himself  whether  they  were  twins,  so  closely 
did  they  resemble  one  another.  One  of  them,  how- 
ever, was  plumper  and  smaller,  while  the  other  was 
more  ladylike.  Their  hair,  dark-brown  rather  than 
black,  drawn  over  their  temples  in  smooth  bands, 
gleamed  with  every  slight  movement  of  their  heads. 
They  had  the  rather  heavy  jaw  and  forehead  peculiar 
to  the  people  of  Auvergne,  cheek-bones  somewhat 
strongly  marked,  but  charming  mouths,  ravishing 
eyes,  with  brows  of  rare  neatness,  and  delightfully 
fresh  complexions.  One  felt,  on  looking  at  them, 
that  they  had  not  been  brought  up  in  this  house,  but  in 
a  select  boarding-school,  in  the  convent  to  which  the 
daughters  of  the  aristocracy  of  Auvergne  are  sent, 
and  that  they  had  acquired  there  the  well-bred  man- 
ners of  cultivated  young  ladies. 

Meanwhile,  Gontran,  seized  with  disgust  before 
this  red  glass  in  front  of  him,  pressed  Andermatt's 
foot  to  induce  him  to  leave.  At  length  he  rose,  and 
they  both  energetically  grasped  the  hands  of  the  two 
peasants;  then  they  bowed  once  more  ceremoniously, 
the  young  girls  each  responding  with  a  slight  nod, 
without  again  rising  from  their  seats. 

As  soon  as  they  had  reached  the  village,  Ander- 
matt  began  talking  again. 

"Hey,  my  dear  boy,  what  an  odd  family!  How 
manifest  here  is  the  transition  from  people  in  good 
society.  A  son's  services  are  required  to  cultivate  the 
vine  so  as  to  save  the  wages  of  a  laborer, —  stupid 
economy, —  however,  he  discharges  this  function,  and 
is  one  of  the  people.  As  for  the  girls,  they  are  like 
girls    of  the    better    class  —  almost    quite    so    already. 


MONT    ORIOL  01 

Let  them  only  make  good  matches,  and  they  would 
pass  as  well  as  any  of  the  women  of  our  own  class, 
and  even  much  better  than  most  of  them.  I  am  as 
much  gratified  at  seeing  these  people  as  a  geologist 
would  be  at  finding  an  animal  of  the  tertiary 
period." 

Gontran  asked:     "Which  do  you  prefer?" 

"Which?    How,  which?    Which  what?" 

"Of  the  lassies?" 

"Oh!  upon  my  honor,  I  haven't  an  idea  on  the 
subject.  I  have  not  looked  at  them  from  the  stand- 
point of  comparison.  But  what  difference  can  this 
make  to  you?  You  have  no  intention  to  carry  off 
one  of  them  ?" 

Gontran  began  to  laugh:  "Oh!  no,  but  I  am  de- 
lighted to  meet  for  once  fresh  women,  really  fresh, 
fresh  as  women  never  are  with  us.  I  like  looking 
at  them,  just  as  you  like  looking  at  a  Teniers.  There 
is  nothing  pleases  me  so  m^ch  as  looking  at  a  pretty 
girl,  no  matter  where,  no  matter  of  what  class. 
These  are  my  objects  of  vertu.  I  don't  collect  them, 
but  I  admire  them  —  I  admire  them  passionately,  ar- 
tistically, my  friend,  in  the  spirit  of  a  convinced  and 
disinterested  artist.  What  would  you  have  ?  I  love 
this!  By  the  bye,  could  you  lend  me  five  thousand 
francs  ?  " 

The  other  stopped,  and  murmured  an  "Again!" 
energetically. 

Gontran  replied,  with  an  air  of  simplicity:  "Al- 
ways!"    Then  the}'  resumed  their  walk. 

Andermatt  then  said:  "What  the  devil  do  you 
do  with  the  money?" 

"I  spend,  it." 


(,2  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

"Yes,  but  you  spend  it  to  excess." 

"My  dear  friend,  I  like  spending  money  as  much 
as  you  like  making  it.     Do  you  understand?" 

"Very  fine,  but  you  don't  make  it." 

"That's  true,  I  know  it.  One  can't  have  every- 
thing. You  know  how  to  make  it,  and,  upon  my 
word,  you  don't  at  all  know  how  to  spend  it.  Money 
appears  to  you  no  use  except  to  get  interest  on  it. 
I,  on  the  other  hand,  don't  know  how  to  make  it, 
but  I  know  thoroughly  how  to  spend  it.  It  procures 
me  a  thousand  things  of  which  you  don't  know  the 
name.  We  were  cut  out  for  brothers-in-law.  We 
complete  one  another  admirably." 

Andermatt  murmured:  "What  stuff!  No,  you 
sha'n't  have  five  thousand  francs,  but  I'll  lend  you 
fifteen  hundred  francs,  because  —  because  in  a  few 
days  I  shall,  perhaps,  have  need  of  you." 

Gontran  rejoined:  "Then  I  accept  them  on  ac- 
count." The  other  gave  him  a  slap  on  the  shoulder 
without  saying  anything  by  way  of  answer. 

They  reached  the  park,  which  was  illuminated 
with  lamps  hung  to  the  branches  of  the  trees.  The 
orchestra  of  the  Casino  was  playing  in  slow  time  a 
classical  piece  that  seemed  to  stagger  along,  full  of 
breaks  and  silences,  executed  by  the  same  four  per- 
formers, exhausted  with  constant  playing,  morning 
and  evening,  in  this  solitude  for  the  benefit  of  the 
leaves  and  the  brook,  with  trying  to  produce  the 
effect  of  twenty  instruments,  and  tired  also  of  never 
being  fully  paid  at  the  end  of  the  month.  Petrus 
Martel  always  completed  their  remuneration,  when  it 
fell  short,  with  hampers  of  wine  or  pints  of  liqueurs 
which  the  bathers  might  have  left  unconsumed. 


MONTORIOL  63 

Amid  the  noise  of  the  concert  could  also  be  dis- 
tinguished that  of  the  billiard-table,  the  clicking  of 
the  balls  and  the  voices  calling  out:  "Twenty, 
twenty-one,    twenty-two." 

Andermatt  and  Gontran  went  in.  M.  Aubry- 
Pasteur  and  Doctor  Honorat,  by  themselves,  were 
drinking  their  coffee,  at  the  side  facing  the  musicians. 
Petrus  Martel  and  Lapalme  were  playing  their  game 
with  desperation;  and  the  female  attendant  woke  up 
to  ask: 

"What  do  these  gentlemen  wish  to  take?" 


CHAPTER     IV. 

A   Test   and   an   Avowal 


ERE  Oriol  and  his  son  had  remained 
for  a  long  time  chatting  after  the  girls 
had  gone  to  bed.  Stirred  up  and  ex- 
cited by  Andermatt's  proposal,  they 
were  considering  how  they  could  in- 
flame his  desire  more  effectually  without 
compromising  their  own  interests.  Like 
the  cautious,  practically-minded  peasants 
that  they  were,  they  weighed  all  the 
chances  carefully,  understanding  very  clearly 
hat  in  a  country  in  which  mineral  springs 
/  gushed  out  along  all  the  streams,  it  was  not 
advisable  to  repel  by  an  exaggerated  demand  this 
unexpected  enthusiast,  the  like  of  whom  they 
might  never  find  again.  And  at  the  same  time  it 
would  not  do  either  to  leave  entirely  in  his  hands 
this  spring,  which  might,  some  day,  yield  a  flood  of 
liquid  money,  Royat  and  Chatel-Guyon  serving  as  a 
precedent  for  them. 

Therefore,  they  asked   themselves    by  what  course 
of  action    they  could    kindle    into  frenzy  the  banker's 
ardor;    they    conjured    up   combinations   of  imaginary 
(64) 


MONT    ORIOL 


65 


companies  covering  his  offers,  a  succession  of  clumsy 
schemes,  the  defects  of  which  they  felt,  without  suc- 
ceeding in  inventing  more  ingenious  ones.  They 
slept  badly;  then,  in  the  morning,  the  father,  hav- 
ing awakened  first,  thought  in  his  own  mind  that 
the  spring  might  have  disappeared  during  the 
night.  It  was  possible,  after  all,  that  it  might  have 
gone  as  it  had  come,  and  re-entered  the  earth,  so 
that  it  could  not  be  brought  back.  He  got  up  in  a 
state  of  unrest,  seized  with  avaricious  fear,  shook  his 
son,  and  told  him  about  his  alarm;  and  big  Colosse, 
dragging  his  legs  out  of  his  coarse  sheets,  dressed 
himself  in  order  to  go  out  with  his  father,  to  make 
sure  about  the  matter. 

In  any  case,  they  would  put  the  field  and  the 
spring  in  proper  trim  themselves,  would  carry  otT  the 
stones,  and  make  it  nice  and  clean,  like  an  animal 
that  they  wanted  to  sell.  So  they  took  their  picks 
and  their  spades,  and  started  for  the  spot  side  by 
side  with  great,  swinging  strides. 

They  looked  at  nothing  as  they  walked  on,  their 
minds  being  preoccupied  with  the  business,  replying 
with  only  a  single  word  to  the  "Good  morning"  of 
the  neighbors  and  friends  whom  they  chanced  to  meet. 
When  they  reached  the  Riom  road  they  began  to  get 
agitated,  peering  into  the  distance  to  see  whether  they 
could  observe  the  water  bubbling  up  and  glittering  in 
the  morning  sun.  The  road  was  empty,  white,  and 
dusty,  the  river  running  beside  it  sheltered  by  willow- 
trees.  Beneath  one  of  the  trees  Oriol  suddenly  noticed 
two  feet,  then,  having  advanced  three  steps  further,  he 
recognized  Pere  Clovis  seated  at  the  edge  of  the  road, 
with  his  crutches  lying  beside  him  on  the  grass. 

SG.de  M 5 


$6  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

This  was  an  old  paralytic,  well  known  in  the 
district,  where  for  the  last  ten  years  he  had  prowled 
about  on  his  supports  of  stout  oak,  as  he  said  him- 
self, like  a  poor  man  made  of  stone. 

Formerly  a  poacher  in  the  woods  and  streams, 
often  arrested  and  imprisoned,  he  had  got  rheumatic 
pains  by  his  long  watchings  stretched  on  the  moist 
grass  and  by  his  nocturnal  fishings  in  the  rivers, 
through  which  he  used  to  wade  up  to  his  middle  in 
water.  Now  he  whined,  and  crawled  about,  like  a 
crab  that  had  lost  its  claws.  He  stumped  along, 
dragging  his  right  leg  after  him  like  a  piece  of  ragged 
cloth.  But  the  boys  of  the  neighborhood,  who  used 
in  foggy  weather  to  run  after  the  girls  or  the  hares, 
declared  that  they  used  to  meet  Pere  Clovis,  swift- 
footed  as  a  stag,  and  supple  as  an  adder,  under  the 
bushes  and  in  the  glades,  and  that,  in  short,  his 
rheumatism  was  only  "a  dodge  on  the  gendarmes." 
Colosse,  especially,  insisted  on  maintaining  that  he 
had  seen  him,  not  once,  but  fifty  times,  straining  his 
neck  with  his  crutches  under  his  arms. 

And  P6re  Oriol  stopped  in  front  of  the  old  vaga- 
bond, his  mind  possessed  by  an  idea  which  as  yet 
was  undefined,  for  the  brain  works  slowly  in  the 
thick  skulls  of  Auvergne.  He  said  "Good  morning" 
to  him.  The  other  responded  "Good  morning." 
Then  they  spoke  about  the  weather,  the  ripening  of 
the  vine,  and  two  or  three  other  things;  but,  as 
Colosse  had  gone  ahead,  his  father  with  long  steps 
hastened  to  overtake  him. 

The  spring  was  still  flowing,  clear  by  this  time, 
and  all  the  bottom  of  the  hole  was  red,  a  fine,  dark 
red,  which   had   arisen    from    an   abundant   deposit   of 


MONTORIOL  67 

iron.  The  two  men  gazed  at  it  with  smiling  faces, 
then  they  proceeded  to  clear  the  soil  that  surrounded 
it,  and  to  carry  off  the  stones  of  which  they  made  a 
heap.  And,  having  found  the  last  remains  of  the 
dead  dog,  they  buried  them  with  jocose  remarks. 
But  all  of  a  sudden  Pere  Oriol  let  his  spade  fall.  A 
roguish  leer  of  delight  and  triumph  wrinkled  the  cor- 
ners of  his  leathery  lips  and  the  edges  of  his  cunning 
eyes,  and  he  said  to  his  son:   "Come  on,  till  we  see." 

The  other  obeyed.  They  got  on  the  road  once 
more,  and  retraced  their  steps.  Pere  Clovis  was  still 
toasting  his  limbs  and  his  crutches  in  the  sun. 

Oriol,  drawing  up  before  him,  asked:  "Do  you 
want  to  earn  a  hundred-franc  piece?" 

The  other  cautiously  refrained  from  answering. 

The  peasant  said:     "Hey!  a  hundred  francs.?" 

Thereupon  the  vagabond  made  up  his  mind,  and 
murmured:  "Of  course,  but  what  am  1  asked  to  do.?" 

"Well,  father,  here's  what  I  want  you  to  do." 

And  he  explained  to  the  other  at  great  length 
with  tricky  circumlocutions,  easily  understood  hints, 
and  innumerable  repetitions,  that,  if  he  would  con- 
sent to  take  a  bath  for  an  hour  every  day  from  ten  to 
eleven  in  a  hole  which  they,  Colosse  and  he,  intended 
to  dig  at  the  side  of  the  spring,  and  to  be  cured  at 
the  end  of  a  month,  they  would  give  him  a  hundred 
francs  in  cash. 

The  paralytic  listened  with  a  stupid  air,  and  then 
said:  "Since  all  the  drugs  haven't  been  able  to  help 
me,  'tisn't  your  water  that'll  cure  me." 

But  Colosse  suddenly  got  into  a  passion.  "Come, 
my  old  play-actor,  you're  talking  rubbish.  I  know 
what  your  disease  is  —  don't  tell  me  about  it'     Whiit 


68  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

were  you  doing  on  Monday  last  in  the  Comberombe 
wood  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night?" 

The  old  fellow  promptly  answered:  "That's  not 
true." 

But  Colosse,  firing  up:  "Isn't  it  true,  you  old 
blackguard,  that  you  jumped  over  the  ditch  to  Jean 
Cannezat  and  that  you  made  your  way  along  the 
Paulin  chasm  ?" 

The  other  energetically  repeated :  "It  is  not  true!" 

"Isn't  it  true  that  I  called  out  to  you:  'Oho, 
Clovis,  the  gendarmes!'  and  that  you  turned  up  the 
Moulinet  road  ?" 

"No,  it  is  not." 

Big  Jacques,  raging,  almost  menacing,  exclaimed: 
"Ah!  it's  not  true!  Well,  old  three  paws,  listen! 
The  next  time  I  see  you  there  in  the  wood  at  night 
or  else  in  the  water,  I'll  take  a  grip  of  you,  as  my 
legs  are  rather  longer  than  your  own,  and  I'll  tie  you 
up  to  some  tree  till  morning,  when  we'll  go  and  take 
you  away,  the  whole  village  together  — " 

Pere  Oriol  stopped  his  son;  then,  in  a  very  whee- 
dling tone:  "Listen,  Clovis!  you  can  easily  do  the 
thing.  We  prepare  a  bath  for  you,  Coloche  and  my- 
self You  come  there  every  day  for  a  month.  For 
that  I  give  you,  not  one  hundred,  but  two  hundred 
francs.  And  then,  listen!  if  you're  cured  at  the  end 
of  the  month,  it  will  mean  five  hundred  francs  more. 
Understand  clearly,  five  hundred  in  ready  money,  and 
two  hundred  more  —  that  makes  seven  hundred. 
Therefore  you  get  two  hundred  for  taking  a  bath  for 
a  month  and  five  hundred  more  for  the  curing.  And 
listen  again!  Suppose  the  pains  come  back.  If  this 
happens    you   in   the    autumn,    there    will   be    nothing 


MONTORIOL  69 

more  for  us  to  do,  for  the  water  will   have    none  the 
less  produced  its  effect!" 

The  old  fellow  coolly  replied:  "In  that  case  I'm 
quite  willing.  If  it  won't  succeed,  we'll  always  see 
it."  And  the  three  men  pressed  one  another's  hands 
to  seal  the  bargain  they  had  concluded.  Then,  the 
two  Oriols  returned  to  their  spring,  in  order  to  dig 
the  bath  for  Pere  Clovis. 

They  had  been  working  at  it  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  when  they  heard  voices  on  the  road.  It  was 
Andermatt  and  Doctor  Latonne.  The  two  peasants 
winked  at  one  another,  and  ceased  digging  the  soil. 

The  banker  came  across  to  them,  and  grasped 
their  hands;  then  the  entire  four  proceeded  to  fix 
their  eyes  on  the  water  without  uttering  a  word.  It 
stirred  about  like  water  set  in  movement  above  a  big 
fire,  threw  out  bubbles  and  steam,  then  it  flowed 
away  in  the  direction  of  the  brook  through  a  tiny 
gutter  which  it  had  already  traced  out.  Oriol,  with 
a  smile  of  pride  on  his  lips,  said  suddenly:  "Hey, 
that's  iron,  isn't  it?" 

In  fact  the  bottom  was  now  all  red,  and  even  the 
little  pebbles  which  it  washed  as  it  flowed  along 
seemed  covered  with  a  sort  of  purple  mold. 

Doctor  Latonne  replied:  "Yes,  but  that  is  nothing 
to  the  purpose.  We  would  require  to  know  its  other 
qualities." 

The  peasant  observed:  "Coloche  and  myself  first 
drank  a  glass  of  it  yesterday  evening,  and  it  has  al- 
ready made  our  bodies  feel  fresh.  Isn't  that  true, 
son?" 

The  big  youth  replied  in  a  tone  of  conviction: 
"Sure  enough,  it  was  very  refreshing." 


70 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


Andermatt  remained  motionless,  his  feet  on  the 
edge  of  the  hole.  He  turned  toward  the  physician: 
"We  would  want  nearly  six  times  this  volume  of 
water  for  what  I  would  wish  to  do,  would  we  not?" 

"Yes,  nearly." 

"Do  you  think  that  we'll  be  able  to  get  it?" 

"Oh!  as  for  me,   I  know  nothing  about  it." 

"See  here!  The  purchase  of  the  grounds  can 
only  be  definitely  effected  after  the  soundings.  It 
would  be  necessary,  first  of  all,  to  have  a  promise  of 
sale  drawn  up  by  a  notary,  once  the  analysis  is 
known,  but  not  to  take  effect  unless  the  consecutive 
soundings  give  the  results  hoped  for." 

Pere  Oriol  became  restless.  He  did  not  under- 
stand. Andermatt  thereupon  explained  to  him  the  in- 
sufficiency of  only  one  spring,  and  demonstrated  to 
him  that  he  could  not  purchase  unless  he  found  others. 
But  he  could  not  search  for  these  other  springs  till 
after  the  signature  of  ^  promise  of  sale. 

The  two  peasants  appeared  forthwith  to  be  con- 
vinced that  their  fields  contained  as  many  springs  as 
vine-stalks.  It  would  be  sufficient  to  dig  for  them  — 
they  would  see,  they  would  see. 

Andermatt  said  simply:   "Yes,  we  shall  see." 

But  Pere  Oriol  dipped  his  fingers  in  the  water, 
and  remarked:  "Why,  'tis  hot  enough  to  boil  an 
egg,  much  hotter  than  the   Bonnefille  one!" 

Latonne  in  his  turn  steeped  his  fingers  in  it,  and 
realized  that  this  was  possible. 

The  peasant  went  on:  "And  then  it  has  more 
taste  and  a  better  taste;  it  hasn't  a  false  taste,  like 
the  other.  Oh!  this  one,  I'll  answer  for  it,  is  good! 
1  know  the  waters  of  the  country    for   the  fifty  years 


MONT    ORIOL 


71 


that  I've  seen  them  flowing.     1  never  seen  a  finer  one 
than  this,  never,  never!" 

He  remained  silent  for  a  few  seconds,  and  then 
continued:  "It  is  not  in  order  to  puff  the  water  that 
I  say  this!  —  certainly  not.  I  would  like  to  make  a  trial 
of  it  before  you,  a  fair  trial,  not  what  your  chemists 
make,  but  a  trial  of  it  on  a  person  who  has  a  dis- 
ease. I'll  bet  that  it  will  cure  a  paralytic,  this  one, 
so  hot  is  it  and  so  good  to  taste  —  I'll  make  a  bet 
on  it!" 

He  appeared  to  be  searching  his  brain,  then  cast 
a  look  at  the  tops  of  the  neighboring  mountains  to 
see  whether  he  could  discover  the  paralytic  that  he 
required.  Not  having  made  the  discovery,  he  low- 
ered his  eyes  to  the  road. 

Two  hundred  meters  away  from  it,  at  the  side  of 
the  road  could  be  distinguished  the  two  inert  legs  of 
the  vagabond,  whose  body  was  hidden  by  the  trunk 
of  a  willow  tree. 

Oriol  placed  his  hand  on  his  forehead  as  a  shade, 
and  said  questioningly  to  his  son:  "That  isn't  Pere 
Clovis  over  there  still?" 

Colosse  laughingly  replied:  "Yes,  yes.  'Tis  he  — 
he  doesn't  go  as  quick  as  a  hare." 

Then  Oriol  stepped  over  to  Andermatt's  side, 
and  with  an  air  of  serious  and  deep  conviction: 
"Look  here,  Monchieu  !  Listen  to  me.  There's  a 
paralytic  over  yonder,  who  is  well  known  to  the 
doctor,  a  genuine  one,  who  hasn't  been  seen  to  make 
a  single  step  for  the  last  ten  years.  Isn't  that  so, 
doctor?" 

Latonne  returned:  "Oh!  if  you  cure  that  fellow,  I 
would  pay  a  franc  a  glass  for  your  water!" 


72 


WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 


Then,  turning  toward  Andermatt:  "Tis  an  old 
fellow  suffering  from  rheumatic  gout  with  a  sort  of 
spasmodic  contraction  of  the  left  leg  and  a  complete 
paralysis  of  the  right;  in  fact,  1  believe,  an  incurable." 

Oriol  had  allowed  him  to  talk;  he  resumed  in  a 
deliberate  fashion:  "Well,  doctor,  would  you  like  to 
make  a  trial  of  it  on  him  for  a  month  ?  I  don't  say 
that  it  will  succeed, —  I  say  nothing  on  the  matter, — 
I  only  ask  to  have  a  trial  made.  Hold  on!  Coloche 
and  myself  are  going  to  dig  a  hole  for  the  stones  — 
well,  we'll  make  a  hole  for  Cloviche;  he'll  remain  an 
hour  there  every  morning,  and  then  we'll  see  —  there! 
—  we'll  see." 

The  physician  murmured:  "You  may  try.  I 
answer  confidently  that  you  will  not  succeed." 

But  Andermatt,  beguiled  by  the  prospect  of  an 
almost  miraculous  cure,  gladly  fell  in  with  the  peas- 
ant's suggestion;  and  the  entire  four  directed  their 
steps  toward  the  vagabond,  who,  all  this  time,  had 
been  lying  motionless  in  the  sun.  The  old  poacher, 
understanding  the  dodge,  pretended  to  refuse,  resisted 
for  a  long  time,  then  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded, 
on  the  condition  that  Andermatt  would  give  him  two 
francs  a  day  for  the  hour  which  he  would  spend  in 
the  water. 

So  the  matter  was  settled.  It  was  even  decided 
that,  as  soon  as  the  hole  was  dug,  Pere  Clovis  should 
take  his  bath  that  very  day.  Andermatt  would  sup- 
ply him  with  clothes  to  dress  himself  afterward,  and 
the  two  Oriols  would  bring  him  a  disused  shepherd's 
hut,  which  was  lying  in  their  yard,  so  that  the 
invalid  might  shut  himself  in  there,  and  change  his 
apparel. 


MONTORIOL  73 

Then  the  banker  and  the  physician  returned  to  the 
village.  When  they  reached  it,  they  parted,  the  doc- 
tor going  to  his  own  house  for  his  consultations,  and 
Andermatt  hurrying  to  attend  on  his  wife,  who  had 
to  come  to  the  establishment  at  half  past  nine 
o'clock. 

She  appeared  almost  immediately,  dressed  from 
head  to  foot  in  pink  —  with  a  pink  hat,  a  pink  para- 
sol, and  a  pink  complexion,  she  looked  like  an 
aurora,  and  she  descended  the  steps  of  the  hotel  to 
avoid  the  turn  of  the  road  with  the  hopping  move- 
ments of  a  bird,  as  it  goes  from  stone  to  stone, 
without  opening  its  wing.  As  soon  as  she  saw  her 
husband,  she  exclaimed: 

"Ohl  what  a  pretty  country  it  is!  I  am  quite  de- 
lighted with  it." 

A  few  bathers  wandering  sadly  through  the  little 
park  in  silence  turned  round  as  she  passed  by,  and 
Petrus  Martel,  who  was  smoking  his  pipe  in  his 
shirt-sleeves  at  the  window  of  the  billiard-room,  called 
to  his  chum,  Lapalme,  sitting  in  a  corner  before  a 
glass  of  white  wine,  and  said,  smacking  the  roof  of 
his  mouth  with  his  tongue: 

"Deuce  take  it,  there's  something  sweet!" 

Christiane  made  her  way  into  the  establishment, 
bowed  smilingly  toward  the  cashier,  who  sat  at  the 
left  of  the  entrance-door,  and  saluted  the  ex-jailer 
seated  at  the  right  with  a  "Good  morning";  then, 
holding  out  a  ticket  to  a  bath-attendant  dressed  like 
the  girl  in  the  refreshment-room,  followed  her  into 
a  corridor  facing  the  doors  of  the  bath-rooms.  The 
lady  was  shown  into  one  of  them,  rather  large,  with 
bare   walls,    furnished   with    a    chair,    a  .glass,    and    a 


74 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


shoe-horn,  while  a  large  oval  orifice,  coated,  like  the 
floor,  with  yellow  cement,  served  the  purposes  of  a 
bath. 

The  woman  turned  a  cock  like  those  used  for 
making  the  street-gutters  flow,  and  the  water  gushed 
through  a  little  round  grated  aperture  at  the  bottom 
of  the  bath  so  that  it  was  soon  full  to  the  brim,  and 
its  overflow  was  diverted  through  a  furrow  sunk  into 
the  wall. 

Christiane,  having  left  her  chambermaid  at  the 
hotel,  declined  the  attendant's  services  in  undressing, 
and  remained  there  alone,  saying  that  if  she  required 
anything,  she  would  ring,  and  would  do  the  same 
when  she  wanted  her  linen. 

She  slowly  disrobed,  watching  as  she  did  so  the 
almost  invisible  movement  of  the  wave  gently  stir- 
ring on  the  clear  surface  of  the  basin.  When  she- 
had  divested  herself  of  all  her  clothing  she  dipped 
her  foot  in,  and  the  pleasant  warm  sensation  mounted 
to  her  throat;  then  she  plunged  into  the  tepid  water 
first  one  leg,  and  after  it  the  other,  and  sat  down 
in  the  midst  of  this  caressing  heat,  in  this  transpar- 
ent bath,  in  this  spring,  which  flov/ed  over  her, 
around  her,  covering  her  body  with  tiny  globules  all 
along  her  legs,  all  along  her  arms,  and  also  all  over 
her  breasts.  She  noticed  with  surprise  those  parti- 
cles of  air  innumerable  and  minute  v/hich  clothed  her 
from  head  to  foot  with  an  entire  mail-suit  of  little 
pearls.  And  these  pearls,  so  minute,  flew  off  inces- 
santly from  her  white  flesh,  and  evaporated  on  the 
surface  of  the  bath,  driven  on  by  others  that  sprung 
to  life  over  her  form.  They  sprung  up  over  her 
skin,  like  light  fruits  incapable  of  being   grasped   yet 


MONT    ORIOL  -75 

charming,  the  fruits  of  this  exquisite  body  rosy  and 
fresh,  which  had  generated  those  pearls  in  the  water. 

And  Christiane  felt  herself  so  happy  in  it,  so 
sweetly,  so  softly,  so  deliciously  caressed  and  clasped 
by  the  restless  wave,  the  living  wave,  the  animated 
wave  from  the  spring  which  gushed  up  from  the 
depths  of  the  basin  under  her  legs  and  fled  through 
the  little  opening  toward  the  edge  of  the  bath,  that  she 
would  have  liked  to  have  remained  there  forever,  with- 
out moving,  almost  without  thinking.  The  sensation 
of  a  calm  delight  composed  of  rest  and  comfort,  of 
tranquil  dreamfulness,  of  health,  of  discreet  joy,  and 
silent  gaiety,  entered  into  her  with  the  soothing 
warmth  of  this.  And  her  spirit  mused,  vaguely 
lulled  into  repose  by  the  gurgling  of  the  overflow 
which  was  escaping  —  dreamed  of  what  she  would 
be  doing  by  and  by,  of  what  she  would  be  doing 
to-morrow,  of  promenades,  of  her  father,  of  her  hus- 
band, of  her  brother,  and  of  that  big  boy  who  had 
made  her  feel  slightly  ill  at  ease  since  the  adventure 
of  the  dog.  She  did  not  care  for  persons  of  violent 
tendencies. 

No  desire  agitated  her  soul,  calm  as  her  heart  in 
this  grateful  moist  warmth,  no  desires  save  the 
shadowy  hopes  of  a  child,  no  desire  of  any  other 
life,  of  emotion,  or  passion.  She  felt  that  it  was  well 
with  her,  and  she  was  satisfied  with  the  happiness 
of  her  lot. 

She  was  suddenly  startled — the  door  flew  open: 
it  was  the  Auvergnat  carrying  the  linen.  Twenty 
minutes  had  passed;  it  was  already  time  for  her  to 
be  dressed.  It  was  almost  a  pang,  almost  a  calam- 
ity, this  awakening  ;  she  felt  a  longing   to  beg  of  the 


•76  WORKS  OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

woman  to  give  her  a  few  minutes  more;  then  she 
reflected  that  every  day  she  would  find  again  the 
same  delight,  and  she  regretfully  left  the  bath  to  be 
wrapped  in  a  white  dressing-gown  whose  scorching 
heat  felt  somewhat  unpleasant. 

Just  as  she  was  going  out,  Doctor  Bonnefille 
opened  the  door  of  his  consultation-room  and  invited 
her  to  enter,  bowing  ceremoniously.  He  inquired 
about  her  health,  felt  her  pulse,  looked  at  her  tongue, 
took  note  of  her  appetite  and  her  digestion,  asked 
her  how  she  slept,  and  then  accompanied  her  to  the 
door,  repeating: 

"Come,  come,  that's  right,  that's  right.  My  re- 
spects, if  you  please,  to  your  f^ither,  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  men  that  1  have  met  in  my  career." 

At  last,  she  got  away,  bored  by  these  undesirable 
attentions,  and  at  the  door  she  saw  the  Marquis 
chatting  with  Andermatt,  Gontran,  and  Paul  Bretigny. 
Her  husband,  in  whose  head  every  new  idea  was 
continually  buzzing,  like  a  fly  in  a  bottle,  was  re- 
lating the  story  of  the  paralytic,  and  wanted  to  go 
back  to  see  whether  the  vagabond  was  taking  his 
bath.  They  were  about  to  go  with  him  to  the  spot 
in  order  to  please  him.  But  Christiane  very  gently 
detained  her  brother,  and.  when  they  were  a  short 
distance  away  from  the  others: 

"Tell  me  now!  1  wanted  to  talk  to  you  about 
your  friend;  I  must  say  1  don't  much  care  for  him. 
Explain  to  me  exactly  what  he  is  like." 

And  Gontran,  who  had  known  Paul  for  many 
years,  told  her  about  this  passionate  nature,  uncouth, 
sincere,  and  kindly  by  starts.  He  was,  according  to 
Gontran,    a    clever    young   fellow,    whose    wild   spirit 


MONTORIOL  77 

impetuously  flung  itself  into  every  new  idea.  Yield- 
ing to  every  impulse,  unable  to  control  or  to  direct 
his  passions,  or  to  fight  against  his  feelings  with  the 
aid  of  reason,  or  to  govern  his  life  by  a  system 
based  on  settled  convictions,  he  obeyed  the  prompt- 
ings of  his  heart,  whether  they  were  virtuous  or 
vicious,  the  moment  that  any  desire,  any  thought, 
any  emotion  whatever,  agitated    his    excitable   nature. 

He  had  already  fought  seven  duels,  as  ready  to 
insult  people  as  to  become  their  friend.  He  had  been 
madly  in  love  with  women  of  every  class,  adored 
them  with  the  same  transports  from  the  working-girl 
whom  he  picked  up  in  the  corner  of  some  store  to 
the  actress  whom  he  carried  off,  yes,  carried  off,  on 
the  night  of  a  first  performance,  just  as  she  was  step- 
ping into  a  vehicle  on  her  way  home,  bearing  her  away 
in  his  arms  in  the  midst  of  the  astonished  spectators, 
and  pushing  her  into  a  carriage,  which  disappeared  at 
a  gallop  before  anyone  could  follow  it  or  overtake  it. 

And  Gontran  concluded:  "There  you  are!  He  is 
a  good  fellow,  but  a  fool;  very  rich,  moreover,  and 
capable  of  anything,  of  anything  at  all,  when  he  loses 
his  head." 

Christiane  said:  "What  a  strange  perfume  he 
carries  about  him!     It  is  rather  nice.     What  is  it?" 

Gontran  answered:  "1  don't  really  know;  he 
doesn't  want  to  tell  about  it.  I  believe  it  comes  from 
Russia.  'Tis  the  actress,  his  actress,  she  whom  I 
cured  him  of  this  time,  that  gave  it  to  him.  Yes, 
indeed,  it  has  a  very  pleasant  odor." 

They  saw,  on  their  way,  a  group  of  bathers  and 
of  peasants,  for  it  was  the  custom  every  morning 
before  breakfast  to  take  a  turn  along  the  road. 


78 


WORKS   OF   GUY    DE    MAUPASSANT 


Christiane  and  Gontran  joined  the  Marquis,  Ander- 
matt,  and  Paul,  and  soon  they  beheld,  in  the  place 
where  the  knoll  had  stood  the  da}^  before,  a  queer- 
looking  human  head  covered  with  a  ragged  felt  hat, 
and  wearing  a  big  white  beard,  looking  as  if  it  had 
sprung  up  out  of  the  ground,  the  head  of  a  decapi- 
tated man,  as  it  were,  growing  there  like  a  plant. 
Around  it,  some  vinedressers  were  looking  on, 
amazed,  impassive,  the  peasantry  of  Auvergne  not 
being  scoffers,  while  three  tall  gentlemen,  visitors  at 
second-class  hotels,  were  laughing  and  joking, 

Oriol  and  his  son  stood  there  contemplating  the 
vagabond,  who  was  steeped  in  his  hole,  sitting  on  a 
stone,  with  the  water  up  to  his  chin.  He  might 
have  been  taken  for  a  desperate  criminal  of  olden 
times  condemned  to  death  for  some  unusual  kind  of 
sorcery;  and  he  had  not  let  go  his  crutches,  which 
were  by  his  sides  in  the  water. 

Andermatt  kept  repeating  enthusiastically:  "  Bravo! 
bravo!  there's  an  example  which  all  the  people  in  the 
country  suffering  from  rheumatic  pains  should  imi- 
tate." 

And,  bending  toward  the  old  man,  he  shouted  at 
him  as  if  he  were  deaf:     "Do  you  feel  well?" 

The  other,  who  seemed  completely  stupefied  by 
this  boiling  water,  replied:  "It  seems  to  me  that  I'm 
melting!  " 

But  Pere  Oriol  exclaimed:  "The  hotter  it  is,  the 
more  good  it  will  do  you." 

A  voice  behind  the  Marquis  said:  "What  is 
that?" 

And  M.  Aubry-Pasteur,  always  pufiTing.  stoj'ped 
on  his  way  back  from  his  daily  walk.     Then    Ander- 


MONT    ORIOL  79 

matt  explained  his  experiment  in  curing.  But  the  old 
man  kept  repeating:  "Devil  taice  it!  how  hot  it  is!" 
And  he  wanted  to  get  out,  asking  some  one  to  help 
him  up.  The  banker  succeeded  eventually  in  calm- 
ing him  by  promising  him  twenty  sous  more  for 
each  bath.  The  spectators  formed  a  circle  round  the 
hole,  in  which  the  dirty,  grayish  rags  were  soaking 
wherewith  this  old  body  was  covered. 

A  voice  said:  "Nice  meat  for  broth  1  I  wouldn't 
care  to  make  soup  of  it!" 

Another  rejoined:  "The  meat  would  scarcely 
agree  with  me!  " 

But  the  Marquis  observed  that  the  bubbles  of  car- 
bonic acid  seemed  more  numerous,  larger,  and  brighter 
in  this  new  spring  than  in  that  of  the  baths. 

The  vagabond's  rags  were  covered  with  them; 
and  these  bubbles  rose  to  the  surface  in  such  abun- 
dance that  the  water  appeared  to  be  crossed  by  in- 
numerable little  chains,  by  an  infinity  of  beads  of 
exceedingly  small,  round  diamonds,  the  strong  midday 
sun  making  them  as  clear  as  brilliants. 

Then  Aubry-Pasteur  burst  out  laughing:  "Egad," 
said  he,  "I  must  tell  you  what  they  do  at  the  estab- 
lishment. You  know  they  catch  a  spring  like  a  bird 
in  a  kind  of  snare,  or  rather  in  a  bell.  That's  what 
they  call  coaxing  it.  Now  last  year  here  is  what 
happened  to  the  spring  that  supplies  the  baths.  The 
carbonic  acid,  lighter  than  water,  was  stored  up  to 
the  top  of  the  bell;  then,  when  it  was  collected  there 
in  a  very  large  quantity,  it  was  driven  back  into  the 
ducts,  reascended  in  abundance  into  the  baths,  filled 
up  the  compartments,  and  all  but  suffocated  the 
invalids.     We  have  had  three   accidents  in  the  course 


So  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

of  three  months.  Then  they  consulted  me  again,  and 
I  invented  a  very  simple  apparatus  consisting  of  two 
pipes  which  led  off  separately  the  liquid  and  the  gas 
in  the  bell  in  order  to  combine  them  afresh  immedi- 
ately under  the  bath,  and  thus  to  reconstitute  the 
water  in  its  normal  state  while  avoiding  the  danger- 
ous excess  of  carbonic  acid.  But  my  apparatus  would 
have  cost  a  thousand  francs.  Do  you  know  what  the 
custodian  does  then  ?  I  give  you  a  thousand  guesses 
to  find  out.  He  bores  a  hole  in  the  bell  to  get  rid 
of  the  gas,  which  flies  out,  you  understand,  so  that 
they  sell  you  acidulated  baths  without  any  acid,  or  so 
little  acid  that  it  is  not  worth  much.  Whereas  here, 
why  just  look! " 

Everybody  became  indignant.  They  no  longer 
laughed,  and  they  cast  envious  looks  toward  the  par- 
alytic. Every  bather  would  gladly  have  seized  a 
pickax  to  make  another  hole  beside  that  of  the  vaga- 
bond. But  Andermatt  took  the  engineer's  arm,  and 
they  went  off  chatting  together.  From  time  to  time 
Aubry-Pasteur  stopped,  made  a  show  of  drawing  lines 
with  his  walking-stick,  indicating  certain  points,  and 
the  banker  wrote  down  notes  in  a  memorandum- 
book. 

Christiane  and  Paul  Bretigny  entered  into  conver- 
sation. He  told  her  about  his  journey  to  Auvergne, 
and  all  that  he  had  seen  and  experienced.  He  loved 
the  country,  with  those  warm  instincts  of  his,  with 
which  always  mingled  an  element  of  animality.  He 
had  a  sensual  love  of  nature  because  it  excited  his 
blood,  and  made  his  nerves  and  organs  quiver.  He 
said:  "For  my  part,  Madame,  it  seems  to  me  as  if 
I    were    open,    so    that    everything    enters    into    me. 


MONT    ORIOL  8l 

everything  passes  through  me,  makes  me  weep  or 
gnash  my  teeth.  Look  here!  when  I  cast  a  glance  at 
that  hillside  facing  us,  that  vast  expanse  of  green, 
that  race  of  trees  clambering  up  the  mountain,  I  feel 
the  entire  wood  in  my  eyes;  it  penetrates  me,  takes 
possession  of  me,  runs  through  my  whole  frame;  and 
it  seems  to  me  also  that  I  am  devouring  it,  that  it 
fills  my  being  —  I  become  a  wood  myself!" 

He  laughed,  while  he  told  her  this,  strained  his 
big,  round  eyes,  now  on  the  wood,  now  on  Christiane; 
and  she,  surprised,  astonished,  but  easily  impressed, 
felt  herself  devoured  also,  like  the  wood,  by  his  great 
avid  glance. 

Paul  went  on:  "And  if  you  only  knew  what  de- 
lights 1  owe  to  my  sense  of  smell.  1  drink  in  this 
air  through  my  nostrils.  I  become  intoxicated  with 
it;  I  live  in  it,  and  I  feel  that  there  is  within  it  every- 
thing—  absolutely  everything.  What  can  be  sweeter.? 
It  intoxicates  one  more  than  wine;  wine  intoxicates 
the  mind,  but  perfume  intoxicates  the  imagination. 
With  perfume  you  taste  the  very  essence,  the  pure 
essence  of  things  and  of  the  universe  —  you  taste  the 
flowers,  the  trees,  the  grass  of  the  fields;  you  can 
even  distinguish  the  soul  of  the  dwellings  of  olden 
days  which  sleep  in  the  old  furniture,  the  old  carpets, 
the  old  curtains.  Listen!  I  am  going  to  tell  you 
something. 

"Did  you  notice,  when  first  you  came  here,  a  de- 
licious odor,  to  which  no  other  odor  can  be  compared 
—  so  fine,  so  light,  that  it  seems  almost  —  how  shall 
1  express  it?  —  an  immaterial  odor?  You  find  it  every- 
where—  you  can  seize  it  nowhere  —  you  cannot  dis- 
cern where  it  comes  from.     Never,  never  has  anything 

t     G.  de  M.-6 


83  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

more  divine  than  it  arisen  in  my  heart.  Well, 
this  is  the  odor  of  the  vine  in  bloom.  Ah!  it  has 
taken  me  four  days  to  discover  it.  And  is  it  not 
charming  to  think,  Madame,  that  the  vine-tree,  which 
gives  us  wine,  wine  which  only  superior  spirits  can 
understand  and  relish,  gives  us,  too,  the  most  delicate 
and  most  exciting  of  perfumes,  which  only  persons 
of  the  most  refined  sensibility  can  discover  ?  And 
then  do  you  recognize  also  the  powerful  smell  of  the 
chestnut-trees,  the  luscious  savor  of  the  acacias,  the 
aroma  of  the  mountains,  and  the  grass,  whose  scent 
is  so  sweet,  so  sweet  —  sweeter  than  anyone  im- 
agines?" 

She  listened  to  these  words  of  his  in  amazement, 
not  that  they  were  surprising  so  much  as  that  they 
appeared  so  different  in  their  nature  from  everything 
encompassing  her  every  day.  Her  mind  remained 
possessed,  moved,  and  disturbed  by  them. 

He  kept  talking  uninterruptedly  in  a  voice  some- 
what hollow  but  full  of  passion. 

"And  again,  just  think,  do  you  not  feel  in  the  air, 
along  the  roads,  when  the  day  is  hot,  a  slight  savor 
of  vanilla.  Yes,  am  I  not  right?  Well,  that  is  — 
that  is  —  but  I  dare  not  tell  it  to  you!" 

And  now  he  broke  into  a  great  laugh,  and  wav- 
ing his  hand  in  front  of  him  all  of  a  sudden  said: 
"Look  there!" 

A  row  of  wagons  laden  with  hay  was  coming 
up  drawn  by  cows  yoked  in  pairs.  The  slow-footed 
beasts,  with  their  heads  hung  down,  bent  by  the 
yoke,  their  horns  fastened  with  pieces  of  wood,  toiled 
painfully  along;  and  under  their  skin,  as  it  rose  up 
and  down,  the  bones  of  their  legs  could  be  seen  mov- 


MONTORIOL  8j} 

Ing.  Before  each  team,  a  man  in  shirt-sleeves,  waist- 
coat, and  black  hat,  was  walking  with  a  switch  in 
his  hand,  directing  the  pace  of  the  animals.  From 
time  to  time  the  driver  would  turn  round,  and,  with- 
out ever  hitting,  would  barely  touch  the  shoulder  or 
the  forehead  of  a  cow  who  would  blink  her  big, 
wandering  eyes,  and  obey  the  motion  of  his  arm. 

Christiane  and  Paul  drew  up  to  let  them  pass. 

He  said  to  her:    "Do  you  feel  it?" 

She  was  amazed:  "What  then?  That  is  the  smell 
of  the  stable." 

"Yes,  it  is  the  smell  of  the  stable;  and  all  these 
cows  going  along  the  roads  —  for  they  use  no  horses 
in  this  part  of  the  country  —  scatter  on  their  wsy 
that  odor  of  the  stable,  which,  mingled  with  the  fine 
dust,  gives  to  the  wind  a  savor  of  vanilla." 

Christiane,  somewhat  disgusted,  murmured:  "Oh!" 

He  went  on:  "Excuse  me,  at  that  moment,  I  was 
analyzing  it  like  a  chemist.  In  any  case,  we  are, 
Madame,  in  the  most  seductive  country,  the  most  de- 
lightful, the  most  restful,  that  I  have  ever  seen  —  a 
country  of  the  golden  age.  And  the  Limagne  —  oh! 
the  Limagne!  But  I  must  not  talk  to  you  about  it;  I 
want  to  show  it  to  you.  You  shall  see  for  your- 
self." 

The  Marquis  and  Gontran  came  up  to  them.  The 
Marquis  passed  his  arm  under  that  of  his  daughter, 
and,  making  her  turn  round  and  retrace  her  steps,  in 
order  to  get  back  to  the  hotel  for   breakfast,  he  said: 

"  Listen,  young  people!  this  concerns  you  all  three. 
William,  who  goes  mad  when  an  idea  comes  into 
his  head,  dreams  of  nothing  any  longer  but  of  build- 
ing this  new  town  of  his,  and  he  wants  to  win  over 


84  WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

to  him  the  Oriol  family.  He  is,  therefore,  anxious 
that  Christiane  should  make  the  acquaintance  of  the 
two  young  girls,  in  order  to  see  if  they  are  '  possi- 
ble.' But  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  father  should 
suspect  our  ruse.  So  I  have  got  an  idea;  it  is  to  or- 
ganize a  charitable  fete.  You,  my  dear,  must  go  and 
see  the  cure;  you  will  together  hunt  up  two  of  his 
parishioners  to  make  collections  along  with  you.  You 
understand  what  people  you  will  get  him  to  nomi- 
nate, and  he  will  invite  them  on  his  own  responsi- 
bility. As  for  you,  young  men,  you  are  going  to 
get  up  a  tombola  at  the  Casino  with  the  assistance 
of  Petrus  Martel  with  his  company  and  orchestra. 
And  if  the  little  Oriols  are  nice  girls,  as  it  is  said 
they  have  been  well  brought  up  at  the  convent, 
Christiane  will  make  a  conquest  of  them." 


CHAPTER   V. 

Developments 


■^OR  eight  days,  Christiane  wholly 
occupied  herself  with  preparations 
for  this  fete.  The  cure,  indeed, 
was  able  to  find  no  one  among 
his  female  parishioners  except  the 
Oriol  girls  who  could  be  deemed 
worthy  of  collecting  along  with  the 
Marquis  de  Ravenel's  daughter;  and, 
lappy  at  having  the  opportunity  of 
laking  himself  prominent,  he  took  all 
necessary  steps,  organized  everything, 
regulated  everything,  and  himself  invited 
the  young  girls,  as  if  the  idea  had  origi- 
nated with  him. 
The  inhabitants  were  in  a  state  of  excitement,  and 
the  gloomy  bathers,  finding  a  new  topic  of  conver- 
sation, entertained  one  another  at  the  table  d'hote 
with  various  estimates  as  to  the  possible  receipts 
from  the  two  portions  of  the  fete,  the  sacred  and  the 
profane. 

The  day  opened  finely.     It  was  admirable  summer 
weather,  warm  and  clear,  with  bright  sunshine  in  the 

(85) 


86  WORKS  OF  GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 

open  plain  and  a  grateful  shade  under  the  village 
trees.  The  mass  was  fixed  for  nine  o'clock  —  a  quick 
mass  with  Church  music.  Christiane,  who  had  ar- 
rived before  the  office,  in  order  to  inspect  the  orna- 
mentation of  the  church  with  garlands  of  flowers 
that  had  been  sent  from  Royat  and  Clermont- 
Ferrand,  consented  to  walk  behind  it.  The  cure, 
Abbe  Litre,  followed  her  accompanied  by  the  Oriol 
girls,  and  he  introduced  them  to  her.  Christiane  im- 
mediately invited  the  young  girls  to  luncheon.  They 
accepted  her  invitation  with  blushes  and  respectful 
bows. 

The  faithful  were  now  making  their  appearance. 
Christiane  and  her  girls  sat  down  on  three  chairs  of 
honor  reserved  for  them  at  the  side  of  the  choir,  fac- 
ing three  other  chairs,  which  were  occupied  by  young 
lads  dressed  in  their  Sunday  clothes,  sons  of  the 
mayor,  of  the  deputy,  and  of  a  municipal  councilor, 
selected  to  accompany  the  lady-collectors  and  to  flat- 
ter the  local  authorities.     Everything   passed  oflT  well. 

The  office  was  short.  The  collection  realized  one 
hundred  and  ten  francs,  which,  added  to  Andermatt's 
five  hundred  francs,  the  Marquis's  fifty  francs,  and  a 
hundred  francs  contributed  by  Paul  Bretigny,  made  a 
total  of  seven  hundred  and  sixty,  an  amount  never 
before  reached  in  the  parish  of  Enval.  Then,  after 
the  conclusion  of  the  ceremony,  the  Oriol  girls  were 
brought  to  the  hotel.  They  appeared  to  be  a  little 
abashed,  without  any  display  of  awkwardness,  how- 
ever, and  scarcely  uttered  one  word,  through  mod- 
esty rather  than  through  timidity.  They  sat  down  to 
luncheon  at  the  table  d'hote,  and  pleased  the  mer  • 
all  the  men. 


MONTORIOL  87 

The  elder  the  more  serious  of  the  pair,  the 
younger  the  more  sprightly,  the  elder  better  bred,  in 
the  common-place  acceptation  of  the  word,  the 
younger  more  pleasant,  they  yet  resembled  one  an- 
other as  closely  as  two  sisters  possibly  could. 

As  soon  as  the  meal  was  finished,  they  repaired 
to  the  Casino  for  the  lottery-drawing  at  the  tombola, 
which  was  fixed  for  two  o'clock. 

The  park,  already  invaded  by  the  mixed  crowd  of 
bathers  and  peasants,  presented  the  aspect  of  an  out' 
landish  fete. 

Under  their  Chinese  kiosque  the  musicians  were 
executing  a  rural  symphony,  a  work  composed  by 
Saint  Landri  himself.  Paul,  who  accompanied  Chris- 
tiane,  suddenly  drew  up: 

"Look  here!"  said  he,  "that's  pretty!  He  has 
some  talent,  that  chap!  With  an  orchestra,  he  could 
produce  a  fine  effect." 

Then  he  asked:  "Are  you  lond  of  music, 
Madame  ?" 

"  Exceedingly." 

"As  for  me,  it  overwhelms  me.  When  1  am  lis- 
tening to  a  work  that  I  like,  it  seems  to  me  first 
that  the  opening  notes  detach  my  skin  from  my 
flesh,  melt  it,  dissolve  it,  cause  it  to  disappear,  and 
leave  me  like  one  flayed  alive,  under  the  combined 
attacks  of  the  instruments.  And  in  fact  it  is  on  my 
nerves  that  the  orchestra  is  playing,  on  my  nerves 
stripped  bare,  vibrating,  trembling  at  every  note.  ! 
hear  it,  the  music,  not  merely  with  my  ears,  but 
with  all  the  sensibility  of  my  body  quivering  from 
head  to  foot.  Nothing  gives  me  such  exquisite  pleas- 
ure, or  rather  such  exquisite   happiness." 


88  WORKS  OF  GUY  DE   MAUPASSANT 

She  smiled,  and  then  said:  "Your  sensibilities  are 
keen." 

"By  Jove,  they  are!  What  is  the  good  of  living 
if  one  has  not  keen  sensibilities  ?  1  do  not  envy  those 
people  who  wear  over  their  hearts  a  tortoise's  shell 
or  a  hippopotamus's  hide.  Those  alone  are  happy 
who  feel  their  sensations  acutely,  who  receive  them 
like  shocks,  and  savor  them  like  dainty  morsels. 
For  it  is  necessary  to  reason  out  all  our  emotions, 
joyous  and  sad,  to  be  satiated  with  them,  to  be  in- 
toxicated with  them  to  the  most  intense  degree  of 
bliss  or  the  most  extreme  pitch  of  suffering." 

She  raised  her  eyes  to  look  up  at  his  face,  with 
that  sense  of  astonishment  which  she  had  experienced 
during  the  past  eight  days  at  all  the  things  that  he 
said.  Indeed,  during  these  eight  days,  this  new 
friend  —  for,  despite  her  repugnance  toward  him,  on 
first  acquaintance,  he  had  in  this  short  interval  become 
her  friend  —  was  every  moment  shaking  the  tranquil- 
lity of  her  soul,  and  disturbing  it  as  a  pool  of  water 
is  disturbed  by  flinging  stones  into  it.  And  he  flung 
stones,  big  stones,  into  this  soul  which  had  calmly 
slumbered  until  now. 

Christiane's  father,  like  all  fathers,  had  always 
treated  her  as  a  little  girl,  to  whom  one  ought  not  to 
say  anything  of  a  serious  nature;  her  brother  made 
her  laugh  rather  than  reflect;  her  husband  did  not 
consider  it  right  for  a  man  to  speak  of  anything 
whatever  to  his  wife  outside  the  interests  of  their 
common  life;  and  so  she  had  hitherto  lived  perfectly 
contented,  her  mind  steeped  in  a  sweet  torpor. 

This  newcomer  opened  her  intellect  with  ideas 
which  fell    upon    it  like    strokes  of  a   hatchet.     More- 


MONT    ORIOL  3(j 

over,  he  was  one  of  those  men  who  please  women, 
all  women,  by  his  very  nature,  by  the  vibrating 
acuteness  of  his  emotions.  He  knew  how  to  talk  to 
them,  to  tell  them  everything,  and  he  made  them 
understand  everything.  Incapable  of  continuous  effort 
but  extremely  intelligent,  always  loving  or  hating 
passionately,  speaking  of  everything  with  the  ingeni- 
ous ardor  of  a  man  fanatically  convinced,  variable  as 
he  was  enthusiastic,  he  possessed  to  an  excessive 
degree  the  true  feminine  temperament,  the  credulity, 
the  charm,  the  mobility,  the  nervous  sensibility  of  a 
woman,  with  the  superior  intellect,  active,  compre- 
hensive, and  penetrating,  of  a  man. 

Gontran  came  up  to  them  in  a  hurry.  "Come 
back,"  said  he,  "and  give  a  look  at  the  Honorat 
family." 

They  returned,  and  saw  Doctor  Honorat,  accom- 
panied by  a  fat,  old  woman  in  a  blue  dress,  whose 
head  looked  like  a  nursery-garden,  for  every  variety 
of  plants  and  flowers  were  gathered  together  on  her 
head. 

Christiane  asked  in  astonishment:  "This  is  his  wife, 
then?  But  she  is  fifteen  years  older  than  her  hus- 
band." 

"Yes,  she  is  sixty-five  —  an  old  midwife  whom 
he  fell  in  love  with  between  two  confinements. 
This,  however,  is  one  of  those  households  in  which 
they  are  nagging  at  one  another  from  morning  till 
night." 

They  made  their  way  toward  the  Casino,  at- 
tracted by  the  exclamations  of  the  crowd.  On  a 
large  table,  in  front  of  the  establishment,  were  dis- 
played  the   lots   of  the   tombola,  which   were   drawn 


^  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

by  Petrus  Martel,  assisted  by  Mademoiselle  Odelin 
of  the  Odeon,  a  very  small  brunette,  who  also  an- 
nounced the  numbers,  with  mountebank's  tricks, 
which  greatly  diverted  the  spectators.  The  Marquis, 
accompanied  by  the  Oriol  girls  and  Andermatt,  reap- 
peared, and  asked:  "Are  we  to  remain  here?  It  is 
very  noisy." 

They  accordingly  resolved  to  take  a  walk  halfway 
up  the  hill  on  the  road  from  Enval  to  La  Roche- 
Pradi^re.  In  order  to  reach  it,  they  first  ascended, 
one  behind  the  other,  a  narrow  path  through  vine- 
trees.  Christiane  walked  on  in  front  with  a  light 
and  rapid  step.  Since  her  arrival  in  this  neighbor- 
hood, she  felt  as  if  she  existed  in  a  new  sort  of  way, 
with  an  active  sense  of  enjoyment  and  of  vitality 
which  she  had  never  known  before.  Perhaps,  the 
baths,  by  improving  her  health,  and  so  ridding  her 
of  that  slight  disturbance  of  the  vital  organs  which 
annoyed  and  saddened  her  without  any  apparent 
cause,  disposed  her  to  perceive  and  to  relish  every- 
thing more  thoroughly.  Perhaps  she  simply  felt  her- 
self animated,  lashed  by  the  presence  and  by  the  ardor 
of  spirit  of  that  unknown  youth  who  had  taught  her 
how  to  understand.  She  drew  a  long,  deep  breath, 
as  she  thought  of  all  he  had  said  to  her  about  the 
perfumes  that  were  scattered  through  the  atmosphere. 
"It  is  true,"  she  mused,  "that  he  has  shown  me 
how  to  feel  the  air."  And  she  found  again  all  the 
odors,  especially  that  of  the  vine,  so  light,  so  deli- 
cate, so  fleeting. 

She  gained  the  level  road,  and  they  formed  them- 
selves into  groups.  Andermatt  and  Louise  Oriol,  the 
elder   girl,    started   first   side   by   side,    chatting  about 


MONTORIOL  qi 

the  produce  of  lands  in  Auvergne.  She  knew,  this 
Auvergnat,  true  daughter  of  her  sire,  endowed  with 
the  hereditary  instinct,  all  the  correct  and  practical 
details  of  agriculture,  and  she  spoke  about  them  in 
her  grave  tone,  in  the  ladylike  fashion,  and  with  the 
careful  pronunciation  which  they  had  taught  her  at 
the  convent.  While  listening  to  her,  he  cast  a  side 
glance  at  her,  every  now  and  then,  and  thought  this 
little  girl  quite  charming  with  her  gravity  of  manner 
and  her  mind  so  full  already  of  practical  knowledge. 
He  occasionally  repeated  with  some  surprise:  "What! 
is  the  land  in  the  Limagne  worth  so  much  as  thirty 
thousand  francs  for  each  hectare  ?  "  * 

"Yes,  Monsieur,  when  it.  is  planted  with  beauti- 
ful apple-trees,  which  supply  dessert  apples.  It  is 
our  country  which  furnishes  nearly  all  the  fruit  used 
in  Paris." 

Then,  they  turned  back  in  order  to  make  a  more 
careful  estimate  of  the  Limagne,  for  from  the  road 
they  were  pursuing  they  could  see,  as  far  as  their 
eyes  could  reach,  the  vast  plain  always  covered  with 
a  light  haze  of  blue  vapor. 

Christiane  and  Paul  also  halted  in  front  of  this  im- 
mense veiled  tract  of  country,  so  agreeable  to  the 
eye  that  they  would  have  liked  to  remain  there  in- 
cessantly gazing  at  it.  The  road  was  bordered  by 
enormous  walnut-trees,  the  dense  shade  of  which 
made  the  skin  feel  a  refreshing  sensation  of  coolness. 
It  no  longer  ascended,  but  took  a  winding  course 
halfway  up  on  the  slope  of  the  hillside  adorned  lower 
dov/n  with  a  tapestry  of  vines,  and   then  with   short 


*A  hectare  is  about  two  acres  and  a  half. 


92 


WORKS  OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


green  herbage  as  far  as  the  crest,  which  at  this  point 
looked  rather  steep. 

Paul  murmured:  "Is  it  not  lovely?  Tell  me,  is  it 
not  lovely?  And  why  does  this  landscape  move  me? 
Yes,  why?  It  diffuses  a  charm  so  profound,  sc 
wide,  that  it  penetrates  to  my  very  heart.  It  seems, 
as  you  gaze  at  this  plain,  that  thought  opens  its 
wings,  does  it  not  ?  And  it  flies  away,  it  soars,  it 
passes  on,  it  goes  off  there  below,  farther  and  farther, 
toward  all  the  countries  seen  in  dreams  which  we 
shall  never  see.  Yes,  see  here,  this  is  worthy  of  ad- 
miration because  it  is  much  more  like  a  thing  we 
dream  of  than  a  thing  that  we  have  seen." 

She  listened  to  him  without  saying  anything, 
waiting,  expectant,  gathering  up  each  of  his  words; 
and  she  felt  herself  affected  without  too  well  knowing 
how  to  explain  her  emotions.  She  caught  glimpses, 
indeed,  of  other  countries,  blue  countries,  rose-hued 
countries,  countries  unlikely  and  marvelous,  countries 
undiscoverable  though  ever  sought  for,  which  make 
us  look  upon  all  others  as  commonplace. 

He  went  on:  "Yes,  it  is  lovely,  because  it  is 
lovely.  Other  horizons  are  more  striking  but  less 
harmonious.  Ah!  Madame,  beauty,  harmonious  beauty! 
There  is  nothing  but  that  in  the  world.  Nothing  ex- 
ists but  beauty.  But  how  few  understand  it!  The 
line  of  a  body,  of  a  statue,  or  of  a  mountain,  the 
color  of  a  painting  or  of  that  plain,  the  inexpressible 
something  of  the  'Joconde,'  a  phrase  that  bites  you 
to  the  soul,  that  —  nothing  more  —  which  makes  an 
artist  a  creator  just  like  God,  which,  therefore,  dis- 
tinguishes him  among  men.  Wait!  I  am  going  to 
recite  for  you  two  stanzas  of  Baudelaire." 


MONT    ORIOL 


93 


And  he  declaimed: 

"Whether  you  come  from  heaven  or  hell  I  do 
not  care, 
O  Beauty,  monster  of  splendor  and  terror, 
yet  sweet  at  the  core, 
As  long  as  your  eye,  your  smile,  your  feet 
lay  the  infinite  bare, 
Unveiling  a  world  of  love  that  I  never  have 
known  before! 

"  From  Satan  or  God,  what  matter,  whether 
angel  or  siren  you  be. 
What  matter  if  you  can  give,  enchanting, 
velvet-eyed  fay. 
Rhythm,  perfume,  and  light,  and  be 
queen  of  the  earth  for  me, 
And  make  all  things  less  hideous,  and 
the  sad  moments  fly  away." 

Christiana  now  was  gazing  at  him,  struck  with 
wonder  by  his  lyricism,  questioning  him  with  her 
eyes,  not  comprehending  well  what  extraordinary 
meaning  might  be  embodied  in  this  poetry.  He 
divined  her  thoughts,  and  was  irritated  at  not  having 
communicated  his  own  enthusiasm  to  her,  for  he  had 
recited  those  verses  very  effectively,  and  he  resumed, 
with  a  shade  of  disdain: 

"I  am  a  fool  to  wish  to  force  you  to  relish  a  poet 
of  such  subtle  inspiration.  A  day  will  come,  I  hope, 
when  you  will  feel  those  things  just  as  I  do.  Women, 
endowed  rather  with  intuition  than  comprehension, 
do  not  seize  the  secret  and  veiled  purposes  of  art  in 
the  same  way  as  if  a  sympathetic  appeal  had  first 
been  made  to  their  minds." 

And,  with  a  bow,  he  added:  "I  will  strive,  Ma- 
dame, to  make  this  sympathetic  appeal." 


94 


WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


She  did  not  think  him  impertinent,  but  fantastic; 
and  moreover  she  did  not  seek  any  longer  to  under- 
stand, suddenly  struck  by  a  circumstance  which  she 
had  not  previously  noticed:  he  was  very  elegant, 
though  he  was  a  little  too  tall  and  too  strongly-built, 
with  a  gait  so  virile  that  one  could  not  immediately 
perceive  the  studied  refinement  of  his  attire.  And 
then  his  head  had  a  certain  brutishness  about  it,  an 
incompleteness,  which  gave  to  his  entire  person  a 
somewhat  heavy  aspect  at  first  glance.  But  when 
one  had  got  accustomed  to  his  features,  one  found  in 
them  some  charm,  a  charm  powerful  and  fierce, 
which  at  moments  became  very  pleasant  according  to 
the  inflections  of  his  voice,  which  always  seemed 
veiled. 

Christiane  said  to  herself,  as  she  observed  for  the 
first  time  what  attention  he  had  paid  to  his  external 
appearance  from  head  to  foot:  "'Decidedly  this  is 
a  man  whose  qualities  must  be  discovered  one  by 
one." 

But  here  Gontran  came  rushing  toward  them.  He 
exclaimed:  "Sister,  I  say,  Christiane,  waitl"  And 
when  he  had  overtaken  them,  he  said  to  them,  still 
laughing:  "Oh!  just  come  and  listen  to  the  younger 
Oriol  girl!  She  is  as  droll  as  anything  —  she  has 
wonderful  wit.  Papa  has  succeeded  in  putting  her  at 
her  ease,  and  she  has  been  telling  us  the  most  com- 
ical things  in  the  world.     Wait  for  them." 

And  they  awaited  the  Marquis,  who  presently  ap- 
peared with  the  younger  of  the  two  girls,  Charlotte 
Oriol.  She  was  relating  with  a  childlike,  knowing 
liveliness  some  village  tales,  accounts  of  rustic  sim- 
plicity   and    roguery.     And    she    imitated    them    with 


MONT    ORIOL 


95 


their  slow  movements,  their  grave  remarks,  their 
"fouchtras,"  their  innumerable  "bougrres,"  mimick- 
ing, in  a  fashion  that  made  her  pretty,  sprightly  face 
look  charming,  all  the  changes  of  their  physiogno- 
mies. Her  bright  eyes  sparkled;  her  rather  large 
mouth  was  opened  wide,  displaying  her  white  teeth; 
her  nose,  a  little  tip-tilted,  gave  her  a  humorous 
look;  and  she  was  fresh,  with  a  flower's  freshness 
that  m.ight  make  lips  quiver  with  desire. 

The  Marquis,  having  spent  nearly  his  entire  life  on 
his  estate,  in  the  family  chateau  where  Christiane  and 
Gontran  had  been  brought  up  in  the  midst  of  rough, 
big  Norman  farmers  who  were  occasionally  invited  to 
dine  there,  in  accordance  with  custom,  and  whose 
children,  companions  of  theirs  from  the  period  of 
their  first  communion,  had  been  on  terms  of  familiar- 
ity with  them,  knew  how  to  talk  to  this  little  girl, 
already  three-fourths  a  woman  of  the  world,  with  a 
friendly  candor  which  awakened  at  once  in  her  a 
gay  and  self-confident  assurance. 

Andermatt  and  Louise  returned  after  having  walked 
as  far  as  the  village,  which  they  did  not  care  to 
enter.  And  they  all  sat  down  at  the  foot  of  a  tree, 
on  the  grassy  edge  of  a  ditch.  There  they  remained 
for  a  long  time  pleasantly  chatting  about  everything 
and  nothing  in  a  torpor  of  languid  ease.  Now  and 
then,  a  wagon  would  roll  past,  always  drawn  by  the 
two  cows  whose  heads  were  bent  and  twisted  by 
the  yoke,  and  always  driven  by  a  peasant  with  a 
shrunken  frame  and  a  big  black  hat  on  his  head, 
guiding  the  animals  with  the  end  of  his  thin  switch 
in  the  swaying  style  of  the  conductor  of  an  orchestra. 

The  man  would  take  off   his    hat,  bowing   to   the 


^  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Oriol   girls,  and  they  would    reply   with    a    familiar, 
"Good  day,"  flung   out   by  their  fresh  young  voices. 

Then,  as  the  hour  was  growing  late,  they  went 
back.  As  they  drew  near  the  park,  Charlotte  Oriol 
exclaimed:  "Oh!  the  boree!  the  boree!"  In  fact,  the 
boree  was  being  danced  to  an  old  air  well  known  in 
Auvergne. 

There  they  were,  male  and  female  peasants  step- 
ping out,  hopping,  making  courtesies, —  turning  and 
bowing  to  each  other, — the  women  taking  hold  of  their 
petticoats  and  lifting  them  up  with  two  fingers  of 
each  hand,  the  men  swinging  their  arms  or  holding 
them  akimbo.  The  pleasant  monotonous  air  was  also 
dancing  in  the  fresh  evening  wind;  it  was  always  the 
same  refrain  played  in  a  very  high  note  by  the  violin, 
and  taken  up  in  concert  by  the  other  instruments, 
giving  a  more  rattling  pace  to  the  dance.  And  it 
was  not  unpleasant,  this  simple  rustic  music,  lively 
and  artless,  keeping  time  as  it  did  with  this  sham- 
bling country  minuet. 

The  bathers,  too,  made  an  attempt  to  dance.  Pe- 
trus  Martel  went  skipping  in  front  of  little  Odelin, 
who  affected  the  style  of  a  danseuse  walking  through 
a  ballet,  and  the  comic  Lapalme  mimicked  a  fantastic 
step  round  the  attendant  at  the  Casino,  who  seemed 
agitated  by  recollections  of  Bullier. 

But  suddenly  Gontran  saw  Doctor  Honorat  dan- 
cing away  with  all  his  heart  and  all  his  limbs,  and 
executing  the  classical  boree  like  a  true-blue  native  of 
Auvergne. 

The  orchestra  became  silent.  All  stopped.  The 
doctor  came  over  and  bowed  to  the  Marquis.  He 
was  wiping  his  forehead  and  puffing. 


MONT    ORIOL 


97 


'"Tis  good,"  said  he,   "to  be  young  sometimes." 

Gontran  laid  his  hand  on  the  doctor's  shoulder, 
and  smiling  with  a  mischievous  air:  "You  never  told 
me  you  were  married." 

The  physician  stopped  wiping  his  face,  and  gravely 
responded:   "Yes,  I  am,  and  marred." 

"What  do  you  say?" 

"I  say,  married  and  marred.  Never  commit  that 
folly,  young  man." 

"Why?" 

"Why!  See  here!  1  have  been  married  now  for 
twenty  years,  and  haven't  got  used  to  it  yet.  Every 
evening,  when  I  reach  home,  1  say  to  myself,  '  Hold 
hard!  this  old  woman  is  still  in  my  house!  So  then 
she'll  never  go  away?'"  Everyone  began  to  laugh,  so 
serious  and  convinced  was  his  tone. 

But  the  bells  of  the  hotel  were  ringing  for  dinner. 
The  fHe  was  over.  Louise  and  Charlotte  were  ac- 
companied back  to  their  father's  house;  and  when 
their  new  friends  had  left  them,  they  commenced 
talking  about  them.  Everyone  thought  them  charm- 
ing, Andermatt  alone  preferred  the  elder  girl. 

The  Marquis  said:  "How  pliant  the  feminine  na- 
ture is!  The  mere  vicinity  of  the  paternal  gold,  of 
which  they  do  not  even  know  the  use,  has  made 
ladies  of  these  country  girls." 

Christiane,  having  asked  Paul  Bretigny:  "And  you, 
which  of  them  do  you  prefer?"    he  murmured: 

"Oh!  I?  I  have  not  even  looked  at  them.  It  is 
not  they  whom  I  prefer," 

He  had  spoken  in  a  very  low  voice;  and  she  made 
no  reply. 

8    G.  de  M.-^ 


CHAPTER    VI. 
On  the  Brink 


HE  days  that  followed  were  charm- 
ing for  Christiane  Andermatt.  She 
hved,  light-hearted,  her  soul  full 
of  joy.  The  morning  bath  was  her 
first  pleasure,  a  delicious  pleasure  that 
made  the  skin  tingle,  an  exquisite  half 
hour  in  the  warm,  flowing  water,  which 
disposed  her  to  feel  happy  all  day  long. 
She  was,  indeed,  happy  in  all  her  thoughts 
and  in  all  her  desires.  The  affection  with 
which  she  felt  herself  surrounded  and  pene- 
trated, the  intoxication  of  youthful  life  throb- 
bing in  her  veins,  and  then  again  this  new 
environment,  this  superb  country,  made  for  day- 
dreams and  repose,  wide  and  odorous,  enveloping  her 
like  a  great  caress  of  nature,  awakened  in  her  fresh 
emotions.  Everything  that  approached,  everything 
that  touched  her,  continued  this  sensation  of  the 
morning,  this  sensation  of  a  tepid  bath,  of  a  great 
bath  of  happiness  wherein  she  plunged  herself  body 
and  soul. 

Andermatt,  who  had  to  leave  Enval  for  a  fortnight 
or  perhaps  a  month,  had  gone    back  to  Paris,  having 
(98) 


MONT    OR  lOL 


99 


previously  reminded  his  wife  to  take  good  care  that 
the  paralytic  should  not  discontinue  his  course  of 
treatment.  So  each  day,  before  breakfast,  Christiane, 
her  father,  her  brother,  and  Paul,  went  to  look  at 
what  Gontran  called  "the  poor  man's  soup."  Other 
bathers  came  there  also,  and  they  formed  a  circular 
group  around  the  hole,  while  chatting  with  the  vaga- 
bond. 

He  was  not  better  able  to  walk,  he  declared,  but 
he  had  a  feeling  as  if  his  legs  were  covered  with 
ants;  and  he  told  how  these  ants  ran  up  and  down, 
climbing  as  far  as  his  thighs,  and  then  going  back 
again  to  the  tips  of  his  toes.  And  even  at  night  he 
felt  these  insects  tickling  and  biting  him,  so  that  he 
was  deprived  of  sleep. 

All  the  visitors  and  the  peasants,  divided  into  two 
camps,  that  of  the  believers  and  that  of  the  sceptics, 
were  interested  in  this  cure. 

After  breakfast,  Christiane  often  went  to  look  for 
the  Oriol  girls,  so  that  they  might  take  a  walk  with 
her.  They  were  the  only  members  of  her  own  sex 
at  the  station  to  whom  she  could  talk  or  with  whom 
she  could  have  friendly  relations,  sharing  a  little  of 
her  confidence  and  asking  in  return  for  some  feminine 
sympathy.  She  had  at  once  taken  a  liking  for  the 
grave  common  sense  allied  with  amiability  which 
the  elder  girl  exhibited  and  still  more  for  the  spirit 
of  sly  humor  possessed  by  the  younger;  and  it  was 
less  to  please  her  husband  than  for  her  own  amuse- 
ment that  she  now  sought  the  friendship  of  the  two 
sisters. 

They  used  to  set  forth  on  excursions  sometimes 
in  a  landau,   an  old  traveling   landau   with  six  seats, 


lOO  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

got  from  a  livery-man  at  Riom,  and  at  other  times 
on  foot.  They  were  especially  fond  of  a  little  wild 
valley  near  Chatel-Guyon,  leading  toward  the  hermit- 
age of  Sans-Souci.  Along  the  narrow  road,  which 
they  slowly  traversed,  under  the  pine-trees,  on  the 
bank  of  the  little  river,  they  would  saunter  in  pairs, 
each  pair  chatting  together.  At  every  stage  along 
their  track,  where  it  was  necessary  to  cross  the 
stream,  Paul  and  Gontran,  standing  on  stepping- 
stones  in  the  water,  seized  the  women  each  with  one 
arm,  and  carried  them  over  with  a  jump,  so  as  to 
deposit  them  at  the  opposite  side.  And  each  of  these 
fordings  changed  the  order  of  the  pedestrians.  Chris- 
tiane  went  from  one  to  another,  but  found  the  oppor- 
tunity of  remaining  a  little  while  alone  with  Paul 
Bretigny  either  in  front  or  in  the  rear. 

He  had  no  longer  the  same  ways  while  in  her 
company  as  in  the  first  days  of  their  acquaintance- 
ship; he  was  less  disposed  to  laugh,  less  abrupt  in 
manner,  less  like  a  comrade,  but  more  respectful  and 
attentive.  Their  conversations,  however,  assumed  a 
tone  of  intimacy,  and  the  things  that  concerned  the 
heart  held  in  them  the  foremost  place.  He  talked  to 
her  about  sentiment  and  love,  like  a  man  well  versed 
in  such  subjects,  who  had  sounded  the  depths  of 
women's  tenderness,  and  who  owed  to  them  as  much 
happiness  as  suffering. 

She,  ravished  and  rather  touched,  urged  him  on  to 
confidences  with  an  ardent  and  artful  curiosity.  All 
that  she  knew  of  him  awakened  in  her  a  keen  desire 
to  learn  more,  to  penetrate  in  thought  into  one  of 
those  male  existences  of  which  she  had  got  glimpses 
out  of  books,  one  of  those  existences  full  of  tempests 


MONT    ORIOL  ,01 

and  mysteries  of  love.  Yielding  to  her  importunities, 
he  told  her  each  day  a  little  more  about  his  life,  his 
adventures,  and  his  griefs,  with  a  warmth  of  language 
which  his  burning  memories  sometimes  rendered  im- 
passioned, and  which  the  desire  to  please  made  also 
seductive.  He  opened  to  her  gaze  a  world  till  now 
unknown  to  her,  found  eloquent  words  to  express  the 
subtleties  of  desire  and  expectation,  the  ravages  of 
growing  hopes,  the  religion  of  flowers  and  bits  of 
ribbons,  all  the  little  objects  treasured  up  as  sacred, 
the  enervating  effect  of  sudden  doubts,  the  anguish 
of  alarming  conjectures,  the  tortures  of  jealousy,  and 
the  inexpressible  frenzy  of  the  first  kiss. 

And  he  knew  how  to  describe  all  these  things  in 
a  very  seemly  fashion,  veiled,  poetic,  and  captivating. 
Like  all  men  who  are  perpetually  haunted  by  desire 
and  thoughts  about  woman  he  spoke  discreetly  of 
those  whom  he  had  loved  with  a  fever  that  throbbed 
within  him  still.  He  recalled  a  thousand  romantic 
incidents  calculated  to  move  the  heart,  a  thousand 
delicate  circumstances  calculated  to  make  tears  gather 
in  the  eyes,  and  all  those  sweet  futilities  of  gallantry 
which  render  amorous  relationships  between  persons 
of  refined  souls  and  cultivated  minds  the  most  beau- 
tiful and  most  entrancing  experiences  that  can  be 
conceived. 

All  these  disturbing  and  familiar  chats,  renewed 
each  day  and  each  day  more  prolonged,  fell  on  Chris- 
tiane's  soul  like  grains  cast  into  the  earth.  And  the 
charm  of  this  country  spread  wide  around  her,  the 
odorous  air,  that  blue  Limagne,  so  vast  that  it  seemed 
to  make  the  spirit  expand,  those  extinguished  volca- 
noes on  the  mountain,  furnaces   of  the   antique  world 


I02  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

serving  nov/  only  to  warm  springs  for  invalids,  the 
cool  shades,  the  ripphng  music  of  the  streams  as  they 
rushed  over  the  stones  — all  this,  too,  penetrated  the 
heart  and  the  flesh  of  the  young  woman,  penetrated 
them  and  softened  them  like  a  soft  shower  of  warm 
rain  on  soil  that  is  yet  virgin,  a  rain  that  will  cause 
to  bourgeon  and  blossom  in  it  the  flowers  of  which  it 
had  received  the  seed. 

She  was  quite  conscious  that  this  youth  was  pay^ 
ing  court  to  her  a  little,  that  he  thought  her  pretty, 
even  more  than  pretty;  and  the  desire  to  please  him 
spontaneously  suggested  to  her  a  thousand  inventions, 
at  the  same  time  designing  and  simple,  to  fascinate 
him  and  to  make  a  conquest  of  him. 

When  he  looked  moved,  she  would  abruptly  leave 
him;  when  she  anticipated  some  tender  allusion  on 
his  lips,  she  would  cast  toward  him,  ere  the  words 
were  finished,  one  of  those  swift,  unfathomable  glances 
which  pierce  men's  hearts  like  fire.  She  would  greet 
him  with  soft  utterances,  gentle  movements  of  her 
head,  dreamy  gestures  with  her  hands,  or  sad  looks 
quickly  changed  into  smiles,  as  if  to  show  him,  even 
when  no  words  had  been  exchanged  between  them, 
that  his  efforts  had  not  been  in  vain. 

What  did  she  desire?  Nothing.  What  did  she 
expect  from  all  this?     Nothing. 

She  amused  herself  with  this  solely  because  she 
was  a  woman,  because  she  did  not  perceive  the 
danger  of  it,  because,  without  foreseeing  anything,  she 
wished  to  find  out  what  he  would  do. 

And  then  she  had  suddenly  developed  that  native 
coquetry  which  lies  hidden  in  the  veins  of  all  femi- 
nine    beings.      The     slumbering,    innocent     child     of 


MONT    ORIOL 


103 


yesterday  had  unexpectedly  waked  up,  subtle  and 
keen-witted,  when  facing  this  man  who  talked  to  her 
unceasingly  about  love.  She  divined  the  agitation 
that  swept  across  his  mind  when  he  was  by  her 
side,  she  saw  the  increasing  emotion  that  his  face 
expressed,  and  she  understood  all  the  different  intona- 
tions of  his  voice  with  that  special  intuition  possessed 
by  women  who  feel  themselves  solicited  to  love. 

Other  men  had  ere  now  paid  attentions  to  her  in 
the  fashionable  world  without  getting  anything  from 
her  in  return  save  the  mockery  of  a  playful  young 
woman.  Their  commonplace  flatteries  diverted  her; 
their  looks  of  melancholy  love  filled  her  with  merri- 
ment; and  to  all  their  manifestations  of  passion  she 
responded  only  with  derisive  laughter.  In  the  case 
of  this  man,  however,  she  felt  herself  suddenly  con- 
fronted with  a  seductive  and  dangerous  adversary; 
and  she  had  been  changed  into  one  of  those  clever 
creatures,  instinctively  clear-sighted,  armed  v/ith  au- 
dacity and  coolness,  who,  so  long  as  their  hearts  re- 
main untrammeled,  watch  for,  surprise,  and  draw 
men  into  the  invisible  net  of  sentiment. 

As  for  him,  he  had,  at  first,  thought  her  rather 
silly.  Accustomed  to  women  versed  in  intrigues,  ex- 
ercised in  love  just  as  an  old  soldier  is  in  military 
maneuvers,  skilled  in  all  the  wiles  of  gallantry  and 
tenderness,  he  considered  this  simple  heart  common- 
place, and  treated  it  with  a  light  disdain. 

But,  little  by  little,  her  ingenuousness  had  amused 
him,  and  then  fascinated  him;  and  yielding  to  his 
impressionable  nature,  he  had  begun  to  make  her  the 
object  of  his  affectionate  attentions.  He  knew  full 
well  that  the  best  way   to  excite  a   pure   soul  was  to 


I04  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

talk  incessantly  about  love,  while  exhibiting  the  ap- 
pearance of  thinking  about  others;  and  accordingly, 
humoring  in  a  crafty  fashion  the  dainty  curiosity 
which  he  had  aroused  in  her,  he  proceeded,  under 
the  pretense  of  confiding  his  secrets  to  her,  to  teach 
her  what  passion  really  meant,  under  the  shadow  of 
the  wood. 

He,  too,  found  this  play  amusing,  showed  her,  by 
all  the  little  gallantries  that  men  know  how  to  dis- 
play, the  growing  pleasure  that  he  found  in  her 
society,  and  assumed  the  attitude  of  a  lover  with- 
out suspecting  that  he  would  become  one  in  reality. 
And  all  this  came  about  as  naturally  in  the  course 
'  of  their  protracted  walks  as  it  does  to  take  a  bath 
on  a  warm  day,  when  you  find  yourself  at  the  side 
of  a  river. 

But,  from  the  first  moment  when  Christiane  be- 
gan to  indulge  in  coquetry,  from  the  time  when  she 
resorted  to  all  the  native  skill  of  woman  in  beguil- 
ing men,  when  she  conceived  the  thought  of  bring- 
ing this  slave  of  passion  to  his  knees,  in  the  same 
way  that  she  would  have  undertaken  to  win  a  game 
at  croquet,  he  allowed  himself  to  yield,  this  candid 
libertine,  to  the  attack  of  this  simpleton,  and  began 
to  love  her. 

And  now  he  became  awkward,  restless,  nervous, 
and  she  treated  him  as  a  cat  does  a  mouse.  With 
another  woman  he  would  not  have  been  embarrassed; 
he  would  have  spoken  out;  he  would  have  conquered 
by  his  irresistible  ardor;  with  her  he  did  not  dare, 
so  different  did  she  seem  from  all  those  whom  he 
had  known.  The  others,  in  short,  were  women  al- 
ready  singed  by  life,    to  whom    everything   might   be 


MONTORIOL  105 

said,  with  whom  one  could  venture  on  the  boldest 
appeals,  murmuring  close  to  their  lips  the  trembling 
words  which  set  the  blood  aflame.  He  knew  his 
power,  he  felt  that  he  was  bound  to  triumph  when 
he  was  able  to  communicate  freely  to  the  soul,  the 
heart,  the  senses  of  her  whom  he  loved,  the  impetu- 
ous desire  by  which  he  was  ravaged. 

With  Christiane,  he  imagined  himself  by  the  side 
of  a  young  girl,  so  great  a  novice  did  he  consider 
her;  and  all  his  resources  seemed  paralyzed.  And 
then  he  cared  for  her  in  a  new  sort  of  way,  partly 
as  a  man  cares  for  a  child,  and  partly  as  he  does  for 
his  betrothed.  He  desired  her;  and  yet  he  was 
afraid  of  touching  her,  of  soiling  her,  of  withering 
her  bloom.  He  had  no  longing  to  clasp  her  tightly 
in  his  arms,  such  as  he  had  felt  toward  others,  but 
rather  to  fall  on  his  knees,  to  kiss  her  robe,  and  to 
touch  gently  with  his  lips,  with  an  infinitely  chaste 
and  tender  slowness,  the  little  hairs  about  her  tem- 
ples, the  corners  of  her  mouth,  and  her  eyes,  her 
closed  eyes,  whose  blue  he  could  feel  glancing  out 
toward  him,  the  charming  glance  awakened  under 
the  drooping  lids.  He  would  have  liked  to  protect 
her  against  everyone  and  against  everything,  not  to 
let  her  be  elbowed  by  common  people,  gaze  at  ugly 
people,  or  go  near  unclean  people.  He  would  have 
liked  to  carry  away  the  dirt  of  the  street  over  which 
she  walked,  the  pebbles  on  the  roads,  the  brambles 
and  the  branches  in  the  wood,  to  make  all  things  easy 
and  delicious  around  her,  and  to  carry  her  always, 
so  that  she  should  never  walk.  And  he  felt  annoyed 
because  she  had  to  talk  to  the  other  guests  at  the 
hotel,  to  eat  the  same  food  at  the  table  d'hote,  and  sub- 


Io6  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

mit  to  all  the  disagreeable  and  inevitable  little  things 
that  belong  to  everyday  existence. 

He  knew  not  what  to  say  to  her  so  much  were 
his  thoughts  absorbed  by  her;  and  his  powerlessness 
to  express  the  state  of  his  heart,  to  accomplish  any  of 
the  things  that  he  wished  to  do,  to  testify  to  her  the 
imperious  need  of  devoting  himself  to  her  which 
burned  in  his  veins,  gave  him  some  of  the  aspects  of 
a  chained  wild  beast,  and,  at  the  same  time,  made 
him  feel  a  strange  desire  to  break  into  sobs. 

All  this  she  perceived  without  completely  under- 
standing it,  and  felt  amused  by  it  with  the  malicious 
enjoyment  of  a  coquette.  When  they  had  lingered 
behind  the  others,  and  she  felt  from  his  look  that  he 
was  about  to  say  something  disquieting,  she  would 
abruptly  begin  to  run,  in  order  to  overtake  her  father, 
and,  when  she  got  up  to  him,  would  exclaim:  "Sup- 
pose we  make  a  four-cornered  game." 

Four-cornered  games  served  generally  for  the  ter- 
mination of  the  excursions.  They  looked  out  for  a 
glade  at  the  end  of  a  wider  road  than  usual,  and  they 
began  to  play  like  boys  out  for  a  walk. 

The  Oriol  girls  and  Gontran  himself  took  great  de- 
light in  this  amusement,  which  satisfied  that  inces- 
sant longing  to  run  that  is  to  be  found  in  all  young 
creatures.  Paul  Bretigny  alone  grumbled,  beset  by 
other  thoughts;  then,  growing  animated  by  degrees 
he  would  join  in  the  game  with  more  desperation 
than  any  of  the  others,  in  order  to  catch  Christiane, 
to  touch  her,  to  place  his  hand  abruptly  on  her 
shoulder  or  on  her  corsage. 

The  Marquis,  v/hose  indifferent  and  listless  nature 
yielded    in    everything,  as    long   as   his   rest    was   not 


MONT    ORIOL 


107 


disturbed,  sat  down  at  the  foot  of  a  tree,  and  watched 
his  boarding-school  at  play,  as  he  said.  He  thought 
this  quiet  hfe  very  agreeable,  and  the  entire  world 
perfect. 

However,  Paul's  behavior  soon  alarmed  Christiane. 
One  day  she  even  got  afraid  of  him.  One  morning, 
they  went  with  Gontran  10  the  most  remote  part  of 
the  oddly-shaped  gap  which  is  called  the  End  of  the 
World.  The  gorge,  becoming  more  and  more  narrow 
and  winding,  sank  into  the  mountain.  They  climbed 
over  enormous  rocks;  they  crossed  the  little  river  by 
means  of  stepping-stones,  and,  having  wheeled  round 
a  lofty  crag  more  than  fifty  meters  in  height  which 
entirely  blocked  up  the  cleft  of  the  ravine,  they  found 
themselves  in  a  kind  of  trench  encompassed  between 
two  gigantic  walls,  bare  as  far  as  their  summits,  which 
vvere  covered  with  trees  and  with  verdure. 

The  stream  formed  a  wide  lake  of  bowl-like  shape, 
and  truly  it  was  a  wild-looking  chasm,  strange  and 
unexpected,  such  as  one  meets  more  frequently  in 
narratives  than  in  nature.  Now,  on  this  day,  Paul, 
gazing  at  the  projections  of  the  rocky  eminence  which 
barred  them  out  from  the  road  at  the  right  where  all 
pedestrians  were  compelled  to  halt,  remarked  that  it 
bore  traces  of  having  been  scaled.  He  said:  "Why, 
we  can  go  on  farther." 

Then,  having  clambered  up  the  first  ledge,  not 
without  difficulty,  he  exclaimed:  "Oh!  this  is  charm- 
ing! a  little  grove  in  the  water  —  come  on,  then!" 

And,  leaning  backward,  he  drew  Christiane  up  by 
the  two  hands,  while  Gontran,  feeling  his  way, 
planted  his  feet  on  all  the  slight  projections  of 
the  rock.     The  soil  which  had  drifted  down  from  the 


I08  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

summit  had  formed  on  this  ledge  a  savage  and 
bushy  garden,  in  which  the  stream  ran  across  the 
roots.  Another  step,  a  little  farther  on,  formed  a  new- 
barrier  of  this  granite  corridor.  They  climbed  it,  too, 
—  then  a  third;  and  they  found  themselves  at  the 
foot  of  an  impassable  wall  from  which  fell,  straight 
and  clear,  a  cascade  twenty  meters  high  into  a  deep 
basin  hollowed  out  by  it,  and  buried  under  bind- 
weeds and  branches. 

The  cleft  of  the  mountain  had  become  so  narrow 
that  the  two  men,  clinging  on  by  their  hands,  could 
touch  its  sides.  Nothing  further  could  be  seen,  save 
a  line  of  sky;  nothing  could  be  heard  save  the  mur- 
mur of  the  water.  It  might  have  been  taken  for  one 
of  those  undiscoverable  retreats  in  which  the  Latin 
poets  were  wont  to  conceal  the  antique  nymphs.  It 
seemed  to  Christiane  as  if  she  had  just  intruded  on 
the  chamber  of  a  fay. 

Paul  Bretigny  said  nothing.  Gontran  exclaimed: 
"Oh!  how  nice  it  would  be  if  a  woman  white  and 
rosy-red  were  bathing  in  that  water!" 

They  returned.  The  first  two  shelves  were  as 
easy  to  descend,  but  the  third  frightened  Christiane, 
so  high  and  straight  was  it,  without  any  visible 
steps.  Bretigny  let  himself  slip  down  the  rock;  then, 
stretching  out  his  two  arms  toward  her,  "Jump," 
said   he. 

She  would  not  venture.  Not  that  she  was  afraid 
of  falling,  but  she  felt  afraid  of  him,  afraid  above  all 
of  his  eyes.  He  gazed  at  her  with  the  avidity  of  a 
famished  beast,  with  a  passion  which  had  grown 
ferocious;  and  his  two  hands  extended  toward  her 
had  such  an  imperious  attraction  for  her  that  she  was 


MONT    ORIOL 


109 


suddenly  terrified  and  seized  with  a  mad  longing  to 
shriek,  to  run  away,  to  climb  up  the  mountain  per- 
pendicularly to  escape  this  irresistible  appeal. 

Her  brother  standing  up  behind  her,  cried:  "Go 
on  then!"  and  pushed  her  forward.  Feeling  herself 
falling  she  shut  her  eyes,  and,  caught  in  a  gentle  but 
powerful  clasp,  she  felt,  without  seeing  it,  all  the 
huge  body  of  the  young  man,  whose  panting  warm 
breath  passed  over  her  face.  Then,  she  found  her- 
self on  her  feet  once  more,  smiling,  now  that  her 
terror  had  vanished,  while  Gontran  descended  in  his 
turn. 

This  emotion  having  rendered  her  prudent,  she 
took  care,  for  some  days,  not  to  be  alone  with  Bre- 
tigny,  who  now  seemed  to  be  prowling  round  her 
like  the  wolf  in  the  fable  round  a  lamb. 

But  a  grand  excursion  had  been  planned.  They 
were  to  carry  provisions  in  the  landau  with  six  seats, 
and  go  to  dine  with  the  Oriol  girls  on  the  border  of 
the  little  lake  of  Tazenat,  which  in  the  language  of 
the  country  was  called  the  "gour"  of  Tazenat,  and 
then  return  at  night  by  moonlight.  Accordingly,  they 
started  one  afternoon  of  a  day  of  burning  heat,  under 
a  devouring  sun,  which  made  the  granite  of  the 
mountain  as  hot  as  the  floor  of  an  oven. 

The  carriage  ascended  the  mountain-side  drawn  by 
three  horses,  blowing,  and  covered  with  sweat.  The 
coachman  was  nodding  on  his  seat,  his  head  hanging 
down;  and  at  the  side  of  the  road  ran  legions  of 
green  lizards.  The  heated  atmosphere  seemed  filled 
with  an  invisible  and  oppressive  dust  of  fire.  Some- 
times it  seemed  hard,  unyielding,  dense,  as  they 
passed    through    it,    sometimes    it    stirred    about    and 


IIO  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

sent  across  their  faces  ardent  breaths  of  flame  in 
which  floated  an  odor  of  resin  in  the  midst  of  the 
long   pine-wood. 

Nobody  in  the  carriage  uttered  a  word.  The  three 
ladies,  at  the  lower  end,  closed  their  dazzled  eyes, 
which  they  shaded  with  their  red  parasols.  The 
Marquis  and  Gontran,  their  foreheads  wrapped  round 
with  handkerchiefs,  had  fallen  asleep.  Paul  was  look- 
ing toward  Christiane,  who  was  also  watching  him  from 
under  her  lowered  eyelids.  And  the  landau,  sending 
up  a  column  of  smoking  white  dust,  kept  always 
toiling  up  this  inte^^minable  ascent. 

When  it  had  reached  the  plateau,  the  coachman 
straightened  himself  up,  the  horses  broke  into  a  trot; 
and  they  drove  through  a  beautiful,  undulating  country, 
thickly-wooded,  cultivated,  studded  with  villages  and 
solitary  houses  here  and  there.  In  the  distance,  at 
the  left,  could  be  seen  the  great  truncated  summits  of 
the  volcanoes.  The  lake  of  Tazenat,  which  they  were 
going  to  see,  had  been  formed  by  the  last  crater  in 
the  mountain  chain  of  Auvergne.  After  they  had 
been  driving  for  three  hours,  Paul  said  suddenly: 
"Look  here,  the  lava-currents!" 

Brown  rocks,  fantastically  twisted,  made  cracks  in 
the  soil  at  the  border  of  the  road.  At  the  right  could 
be  seen  a  mountain,  snub-nosed  in  appearance,  whose 
wide  summit  had  a  flat  and  hollow  look.  They  took 
a  path,  which  seemed  to  pass  into  it  through  a  tri- 
angular cutting;  and  Christiane,  who  was  standing 
erect,  discovered  all  at  once,  in  the  midst  of  a  vast 
deep  crater,  a  lovely  lake,  bright  and  round,  like  a 
silver  coin.  The  steep  slopes  of  the  mountain,  wooded 
at   the  right   and   bare   at   the   left,    sank   toward    the 


MONT    ORIOL  III 

water,  which  they  surrounded  with  a  high  inclosure, 
regular  in  shape.  And  this  phicid  water,  level  and 
glittering,  like  the  surface  of  a  medal,  reflected  the  trees 
on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  the  barren  slope,  with 
a  clearness  so  complete  that  the  edges  escaped  one's 
attention,  and  the  only  thing  one  saw  in  this  funnel, 
in  whose  center  the  blue  sky  was  mirrored,  was  a 
transparent,  bottomless  opening,  which  seemed  to 
pass  right  through  the  earth,  pierced  from  end  to 
end  up  to  the  other  firmament. 

The  carriage  could  go  no  farther.  They  got  down, 
and  took  a  path  through  the  wooded  side  winding 
round  the  lake,  under  the  trees,  halfway  up  the 
declivity  of  the  mountain.  This  track,  along  which 
only  the  woodcutters  passed,  was  as  green  as  a 
prairie;  and,  through  the  branches,  they  could  see 
the  opposite  side,  and  the  water  glittering  at  the  bot- 
tom of  this  mountain-lake. 

Then  they  reached,  through  an  opening  in  the 
wood,  the  very  edge  of  the  water,  where  they  sat 
down  upon  a  sloping  carpet  of  grass,  overshadowed 
by  oak-trees. 

They  all  stretched  themselves  on  the  green  turf 
with  sensuous  and  exquisite  delight.  The  men  rolled 
themselves  about  in  it,  plunged  their  hands  into  it; 
while  the  women,  softly  lying  down  on  their  sides, 
placed  their  cheeks  close  to  it,  as  if  to  seek  there  a 
refreshing  caress. 

After  the  heat  of  the  road,  it  was  one  of  those 
sweet  sensations  so  deep  and  so  grateful  that  they 
almost  amount  to  pure  happiness. 

Then  once  more  the  Marquis  went  to  sleep;  Gon- 
tran  speedily  followed  his  example.     Paul  began  chat- 


112  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

ting  with  Christiane  and  the  two  young  girls.  About 
what  ?  About  nothing  in  particular.  From  time  to 
time,  one  of  them  gave  utterance  to  some  phrase; 
another  repHed  after  a  minute's  pause,  and  the  linger- 
ing words  seemed  torpid  in  their  mouths  like  the 
thoughts  within  their  minds. 

But,  the  coachman  having  brought  across  to  them 
the  hamper  which  contained  the  provisions,  the  Oriol 
girls,  accustomed  to  domestic  duties  in  their  own 
house,  and  still  clinging  to  their  active  habits,  quickly 
proceeded  to  unpack  it,  and  to  prepare  the  dinner, 
of  which  the  party  would  by  and  by  partake  on  the 
grass. 

Paul  lay  on  his  back  beside  Christiane,  who  was 
in  a  reverie.  And  he  murmured,  in  so  low  a  tone 
that  she  scarcely  heard  him,  so  low  that  his  words 
just  grazed  her  ear,  like  those  confused  sounds  that 
are  borne  on  by  the  wind:  "These  are  the  best  days 
of  my  life." 

Why  did  these  vague  words  move  her  even  to  the 
bottom  of  her  heart  ?  Why  did  she  feel  herself  sud- 
denly touched  by  an  emotion  such  as  she  had  never 
experienced  before? 

She  was  gazing  through  the  trees  at  a  tiny 
house,  a  hut  for  persons  engaged  in  hunting  and  fish- 
ing, so  narrow  that  it  could  barely  contain  one  small 
apartment.  Paul  followed  the  direction  of  her  glance, 
and  said: 

"Have  you  ever  thought,  Madame,  what  days 
passed  together  in  a  hut  like  that  might  be  for  two 
persons  who  loved  one  another  to  distraction?  They 
would  be  alone  in  the  world,  truly  alone,  face  to 
face  I     And,  if  such  a  thing  were  possible,  ought    not 


MONT    ORIOL 


"3 


one  be  ready  to  give  up  everything  in  order  to  real- 
ize it,  so  rare,  unseizable,  and  short-lived  is  happi- 
ness? Do  we  find  it  in  our  everyday  life?  What 
more  depressing  than  to  rise  up  without  any  ardent 
hope,  to  go  through  the  same  duties  dispassionately, 
to  drink  in  moderation,  to  eat  with  discretion,  and 
to  sleep  tranquilly  like  a  mere  animal  ?  " 

She  kept,  all  the  time,  staring  at  the  little  house; 
and  her  heart  swelled  up,  as  if  she  were  going  to 
burst  into  tears;  for,  in  one  flash  of  thought^  she 
divined  intoxicating  joys,  of  whose  existence  she  had 
no  conception  till  that  moment. 

Indeed,  she  was  thinking  how  sweet  it  would  be 
for  two  to  be  together  in  this  tiny  abode  hidden 
under  the  trees,  facing  that  plaything  of  a  lake,  that 
jewel  of  a  lake,  true  mirror  of  love!  One  might  feel 
happy  with  nobody  near,  without  a  neighbor,  with- 
out one  sound  of  life,  alone  with  a  lover,  who  would 
pass  his  hours  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  the  adored  one, 
looking  up  at  her,  while  her  gaze  wandered  toward 
the  blue  wave,  and  whispering  tender  words  in  her 
ear,  while  he  kissed  the  tips  of  her  fingers.  They 
would  live  there,  amid  the  silence,  beneath  the  trees, 
at  the  bottom  of  that  crater,  which  would  hold  all 
their  passion,  like  the  limpid,  unfathomable  water,  in 
the  embrace  of  its  firm  and  regular  inclosure,  with 
no  other  horizon  for  their  eyes  save  the  round  line  of 
the  mountain's  sides,  with  no  other  horizon  for  their 
thoughts  save  the  bliss  of  loving  one  another,  with 
no  other  horizon  for  their  desires  save  kisses  linger- 
ing and  endless. 

Were  there,  then,  people  on  the  earth  who  could 
enjoy   days  like   this?    Yes,  undoubtedly!     And   why 

8    C.  de  M,-« 


114 


WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


not  ?  Why  had  she  not  sooner  known  that  such  joys 
exist  ? 

The  girls  announced  that  dinner  was  ready.  It 
was  six  o'clock  already.  They  roused  up  the  Marquis 
and  Gontran  in  order  that  they  might  squat  in  Turk- 
ish fashion  a  short  distance  off,  with  the  plates  glis- 
tening beside  them  in  the  grass.  The  two  sisters 
kept  waiting  on  them,  and  the  heedless  men  did  not 
gainsay  them.  They  ate  at  their  leisure,  flinging  the 
cast-off  pieces  and  the  bones  of  the  chickens  into  the 
water.  They  had  brought  champagne  with  them; 
the  sudden  noise  of  the  first  cork  jumping  up  pro- 
duced a  surprising  effect  on  everyone,  so  unusual  did 
it  appear  in  this  solitary  spot. 

The  day  was  declining;  the  air  became  impreg- 
nated with  a  delicious  coolness.  As  the  evening  stole 
on,  a  strange  melancholy  fell  on  the  water  that  lay 
sleeping  at  the  bottom  of  the  crater.  Just  as  the  sun 
was  about  to  disappear,  the  western  sky  burst  out 
into  flame,  and  the  lake  suddenly  assumed  the  as- 
pect of  a  basin  of  fire.  Then,  when  the  sun  had  gone 
to  rest,  the  horizon  becoming  red  like  a  brasier  on 
the  point  of  being  extinguished,  the  lake  looked  like 
a  basin  of  blood.  And  suddenly  above  the  crest  of 
mountain,  the  moon  nearly  at  its  full  rose  up  all  pale 
in  the  still,  cloudless  firmament.  Then,  as  the  shad- 
ows gradually  spread  over  the  earth,  it  ascended 
glittering  and  round  above  the  crater  which  was 
round  also.  It  looked  as  if  it  were  going  to  let  itself 
drop  down  into  the  chasm;  and  when  it  had  risen 
far  up  into  the  sky,  the  lake  had  the  aspect  of  a 
basin  of  silver.  Then,  on  its  surface,  motionless  all 
day   long,  trembling  movements   could    now   be   seen 


MONT    ORIOL 


"5 


sometimes  slow  and  sometimes  rapid.  It  seemed  as 
if  some  spirits  skimming  just  above  the  water  were 
drawing  across  it  invisible  veils. 

it  was  the  big  fish  at  the  bottom,  the  venerable 
carp  and  the  voracious  pike,  who  had  come  up  to 
enjoy  themselves  in  the  moonlight. 

The  Oriol  girls  had  put  back  all  the  plates,  dishes, 
and  bottles  into  the  hamper,  which  the  coachman 
came  to  take  away.     They  rose  up  to  go. 

As  they  were  passing  into  the  path  under  the 
trees,  where  rays  of  light  fell,  like  a  silver  shower, 
through  the  leaves  and  glittered  on  the  grass,  Chris- 
tiane,  who  was  following  the  others  with  Paul  in  the 
rear,  suddenly  heard  a  panting  voice  saying  close  to 
her  ear:  "I  love  you!  —  I  love  you!  —  1  love  you!" 

Her  heart  began  to  beat  so  wildly  that  she  was 
near  sinking  to  the  ground,  and  felt  as  if  she  could 
not  move  her  limbs.  Still  she  walked  on,  like  one 
distraught,  ready  to  turn  round,  her  arms  hanging 
wide  and  her  lips  tightly  drawn.  He  had  by  this 
time  caught  the  edge  of  the  little  shawl  which  she 
had  drawn  over  her  shoulders,  and  was  kissing  it 
frantically.  She  continued  walking  with  such  totter- 
ing steps  that  she  no  longer  could  feel  the  soil  be- 
neath her  feet. 

And  now  she  emerged  from  under  the  canopy  of 
trees,  and  finding  herself  in  the  full  glare  of  the  moon- 
light, she  got  the  better  of  her  agitation  with  a  des- 
perate effort;  but,  before  stepping  into  the  landau 
and  losing  sight  of  the  lake,  she  half  turned  round  to 
throw  a  long  kiss  with  both  hands  toward  the  water, 
which  likewise  embraced  the  man  who  was  following 
her. 


Il6  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

On  the  return  journey,  she  remained  inert  both  in 
soul  and  body,  dizzy,  cramped  up,  as  if  after  a  fall; 
and,  the  moment  they  reached  the  hotel,  she  quickly 
rushed  up  to  her  own  apartment,  where  she  locked 
herself  in.  Even  when  the  door  was  bolted  and  the 
key  turned  in  the  lock,  she  pressed  her  hand  on  it 
again,  so  much  did  she  feel  herself  pursued  and  de- 
sired. Then  she  remained  trembling  in  the  middle  of 
the  room,  which  was  nearly  quite  dark  and  had  an 
empty  look.  The  wax-candle  placed  on  the  table  cast 
on  the  walls  the  quivering  shadows  of  the  furniture 
and  of  the  curtains.  Christiane  sank  into  an  armchair. 
All  her  thoughts  were  rushing,  leaping,  flying  away 
from  her  so  that  she  found  it  impossible  to  seize 
them,  to  hold  them,  to  link  them  together.  She  felt 
now  ready  to  weep,  without  well  knowing  why, 
broken-hearted,  wretched,  abandoned,  in  this  empty 
room,  lost  in  existence,  just  as  in  a  forest.  Where 
was  she  going,  what  would  she  do  ? 

Breathing  with  difficulty,  she  rose  up,  flung  open 
the  window  and  the  shutters  in  front  of  it,  and 
leaned  on  her  elbows  over  the  balcony.  The  air 
was  refreshing.  In  the  depths  of  the  sky,  wide  and 
empty,  too,  the  distant  moon,  solitary  and  sad,  hav- 
ing ascended  now  into  the  blue  heights  of  night,  cast 
forth  a  hard,  cold  luster  on  the  trees  and  on  the 
mountains. 

The  entire  country  lay  asleep.  Only  the  light  strain 
of  Saint  Landri's  violin,  which  he  played  till  a  late 
hour  every  night,  broke  the  deep  silence  of  the  valley 
with  its  melancholy  music.  Christiane  scarcely  heard 
it.  It  ceased,  then  began  again  —  the  shrill  and  dol- 
orous cry  of  the  thin  fiddlestrings. 


MONT    ORIOL  117 

And  that  moon  lost  in  a  desert  sky,  that  feeble 
sound  lost  in  the  silent  night,  filled  her  heart  with 
such  a  sense  of  solitude  that  she  burst  into  sobs. 
She  trembled  and  quivered  to  the  very  marrov/  of  her 
bones,  shaken  by  anguish  and  by  the  shuddering  sen- 
sations of  people  attacked  by  some  formidable  mal- 
ady; for  suddenly  it  dawned  upon  her  mind  that  she, 
too,  was  all  alone  in  existence. 

She  had  never  realized  this  until  to-day,  and  now 
she  felt  it  so  vividly  in  the  distress  of  her  soul  that 
she  imagined  she  was  going  mad. 

She  had  a  father!  a  brother!  a  husband!  She 
loved  them  still,  and  they  loved  her.  And  here  she 
was  all  at  once  separated  from  them,  she  had  become 
a  stranger  to  them  as  if  she  scarcely  knew  them. 
The  calm  affection  of  her  father,  the  friendly  com- 
panionship of  her  brother,  the  cold  tenderness  of  her 
husband,  appeared  to  her  nothing  any  longer,  nothing 
any  longer.  Her  husband!  This,  her  husband,  the 
rosy-cheeked  man  who  was  accustomed  to  say  to  her 
in  a  careless  tone,  "Are  you  going  far,  dear,  this 
morning?"  She  belonged  to  him,  to  this  man,  body 
and  soul,  by  the  mere  force  of  a  contract.  Was  this 
possible?  Ah!  how  lonely  and  lost  she  felt  herself! 
She  closed  her  eyes  to  look  into  her  own  mind, 
into  the  lowest  depths  of  her  thoughts. 

And  she  could  see,  as  she  evoked  them  out  of 
her  inner  consciousness  the  faces  of  all  those  who 
lived  around  her  —  her  father,  careless  and  tranquil, 
happy  as  long  as  nobody  disturbed  his  repose;  her 
brother,  scoffing  and  sceptical;  her  husband  moving 
about,  his  head  full  of  figures,  and  with  the  an- 
nouncement   on    his    lips,   "1    have  just    done    a    fine 


Il8  WORKS   OF  GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

Stroke  of  business!"  when   he   should   have   said,   "I 
love  you!" 

Another  man  had  murmured  that  word  a  little 
while  ago,  and  it  was  still  vibrating  in  her  ear  and  in 
her  heart.  She  could  see  him  also,  this  other  man, 
devouring  her  with  his  fixed  look;  and,  if  he  had 
been  near  her  at  that  moment,  she  would  have  flung 
herself  into  his  arms! 


CHAPTER     VII. 


C 


Attainment 

HRisTiANE,  who   had    not   gone  to 
sleep  till  a  very  late  hour,  awoke 
as  soon  as  the  sun  cast  a  flood 
of  red  light  into  her  room   through 
^        the  window  which  she  had  left  wide 
open.     She    glanced   at  her  watch  —  it 
was  five    o'clock  —  and  remained  lying 
on    her   back    deliciously  in  the  warmth 
of  the  bed.     It  seemed  to    her,  so   active 
:;nd  full  of  joy  did  her  soul  feel,  that  a  hap- 
piness, a   great    happiness,  had   come   to    her 
during  the   night.     What  was  it?    She  sought 
to  find  out  what  it  was;  she  sought  to  find  out 
what  was  this  new  source  of  happiness  which  had 
thus  penetrated  her  with    delight.     All  her  sadness  of 
the  night  before  had  vanished,   melted  away,   during 
sleep. 

So  Paul  Bretigny  loved  her!  How  different  he 
appeared  to  her  from  the  first  day!  In  spite  of  all 
the  efforts  of  her  memory,  she  could  not  bring  back 
her  first  impression  of  him;  she  could  not  even  recall 
to  her  mind  the  man  introduced  to  her  by  her  brother. 
He  whom  she  knew  to-day  had  retained  nothing  of 

(i«9) 


I20  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

the  Other,  neither  the  face  nor  the  bearing  —  nothing 
—  for  his  first  image  had  passed,  little  by  little,  day 
by  day,  through  all  the  slow  modifications  which  take 
place  in  the  soul  with  regard  to  a  being  who  from  a 
mere  acquaintance  has  come  to  be  a  familiar  friend 
and  a  beloved  object.  You  take  possession  of  him 
hour  by  hour  without  suspecting  it;  possession  of  his 
movements,  of  his  attitudes,  of  his  physical  and  moral 
characteristics.  He  enters  into  you,  into  your  eyes 
and  your  heart,  by  his  voice,  by  all  his  gestures,  by 
what  he  says  and  by  what  he  thinks.  You  absorb 
him;  you  comprehend  him;  you  divine  him  in  all  the 
meanings  of  his  smiles  and  of  his  words;  it  seems  at 
last  that  he  belongs  entirely  to  you,  so  much  do  you 
love,  unconsciously  still,  all  that  is  his  and  all  that 
comes  from  him. 

Then,  too,  it  is  impossible  to  remember  what  this  be- 
ing was  like  —  to  your  indifferent  eyes  —  when  first  he 
presented  himself  to  your  gaze.  So  then  Paul  Bretigny 
loved  her!  Christiane  experienced  from  this  discov- 
ery neither  fear  nor  anguish,  but  a  profound  tender- 
ness, an  immense  joy,  new  and  exquisite,  of  being 
loved  —  of  knowing  that  she  was  loved. 

She  was,  however,  a  little  disturbed  as  to  the 
attitude  that  he  would  assume  toward  her  and  that 
she  should  preserve  toward  him.  But,  as  it  was  a 
matter  of  delicacy  for  her  conscience  even  to  think  of 
these  things,  she  ceased  to  think  about  them,  trusting 
to  her  own  tact  and  ingenuity  to  direct  the  course  of 
events. 

She  descended  at  the  usual  hour,  and  found  Paul 
smoking  a  cigarette  before  the  door  of  the  hotel.  He 
bowed  respectfully  to  her: 


MONT    ORIOL  121 

"Good  day,  Madame.    You  feel  well  this  morning?" 

"Very  well,  Monsieur.     1  slept  very  soundly." 

And  she  put  out  her  hand  to  him,  fearing  lest  he 
might  hold  it  in  his  too  long.  But  he  scarcely  pressed 
it;  and  they  began  quietly  chatting  as  if  they  had  for- 
gotten one  another. 

And  the  day  passed  off  without  anything  being 
done  by  him  to  recall  his  ardent  avowal  of  the  night 
before.  He  remained,  on  the  days  that  followed, 
quite  as  discreet  and  calm;  and  she  placed  confidence 
in  him.  He  realized,  she  thought,  that  he  would 
wound  her  by  becoming  bolder;  and  she  hoped,  she 
firmly  believed,  that  they  might  be  able  to  stop  at 
this  delightful  halting-place  of  tenderness,  where  they 
could  love,  while  looking  into  the  depths  of  one 
another's  eyes,  without  remorse,  inasmuch  as  they 
would  be  free  from  defilement.  Nevertheless,  she  was 
careful  never  to  wander  out  with  him  alone. 

Now,  one  evening,  the  Saturday  of  the  same  week 
in  which  they  had  visited  the  lake  of  Tazenat,  as 
they  were  returning  to  the  hotel  about  ten  o'clock, — 
the  Marquis,  Christiane,  and  Paul, —  for  they  had  left 
Gontran  playing  icarte  with  Aubrey  and  Riquier  and 
Doctor  Honorat  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Casino,  Bretigny 
exclaimed,  as  he  watched  the  moon  shining  through 
the  branches: 

"How  nice  it  would  be  to  go  and  see  the  ruins 
of  Tournoel  on  a  night  like  this!" 

At  this  thought  alone,  Christiane  was  filled  with 
emotion,  the  moon  and  ruins  having  on  her  the  same 
influence  which  they  have  on  the  souls  of  all  women. 

She  pressed  the  Marquis's  hands.  "Oh!  father 
dear,  would  you  mind  going  there,?" 


122  WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

He  hesitated,  being  exceedingly  anxious  to  go  to 
bed. 

She  insisted:  "Just  think  a  moment,  how  beauti- 
ful Tournoei  is  even  by  day!  You  said  yourself  that 
you  had  never  seen  a  ruin  so  picturesque,  with  that 
great  tower  above  the  chateau.  What  must  it  be  at 
night!" 

At  last  he  consented:  "Well,  then,  let  us  go! 
But  we'll  only  look  at  it  for  five  minutes,  and  then 
come  back  immediately.  For  my  part,  I  want  to  be 
in  bed  at  eleven  o'clock." 

"Yes,  we  v/ill  come  back  immediately.  It  takes 
only  twenty  minutes  to  get  there." 

They  set  out  all  three,  Christiane  leaning  on  her 
father's  arm,  and  Paul  walking  by  her  side. 

He  spoke  of  his  travels  in  Switzerland,  in  Italy,  in 
Sicily.  He  told  what  his  impressions  were  in  the 
presence  of  certain  phenomena,  his  enthusiasm  on 
seeing  the  summit  of  Monte  Rosa,  when  the  sun, 
rising  on  the  horizon  of  this  row  of  icy  peaks,  this 
congealed  world  of  eternal  snows,  cast  on  each  of 
those  lofty  mountain-tops  a  dazzling  white  radiance, 
and  illumined  them,  like  the  pale  beacon-lights  that 
must  shine  down  upon  the  kingdoms  of  the  dead. 
Then  he  spoke  of  his  emotion  on  the  edge  of  the 
monstrous  crater  of  Etna,  when  he  felt  himself,  an 
imperceptible  mite,  many  meters  above  the  cloud  line, 
having  nothing  any  longer  around  him  save  the  sea 
and  the  sky,  the  blue  sea  beneath,  the  blue  sky 
above,  and  leaning  over  this  dreadful  chasm  of  the 
earth,  whose  breath  stifled  him.  He  enlarged  the  ob- 
jects which  he  described  in  order  to  excite  the  young 
woman;  and,  as  she  listened,  she  panted  with  visions 


MONT    ORIOL 


123 


she  conjured  up,  by  a  flight  of  imagination,  of  those 
wonderful  things  that  he  had  seen. 

Suddenly,  at  a  turn  of  the  road,  they  discovered 
Tournoel.  The  ancient  chateau,  standing  on  a  moun- 
tain peak,  overlooked  by  its  high  and  narrow  tower, 
letting  in  the  light  through  its  chinks,  and  dismantled 
by  time  and  by  the  wars  of  bygone  days,  traced, 
upon  a  sky  of  phantoms,  its  huge  silhouette  of  a  fan- 
tastic manor-house. 

They  stopped,  all  three  surprised.  The  Marquis 
said,  at  length:  "Indeed,  it  is  impressive  —  like  a 
dream  of  Gustave  Dore  realized.  Let  us  sit  down  for 
five  minutes." 

And  he  sat  down  on  the  sloping  grass. 

But  Christiane,  wild  with  enthusiasm,  exclaimed: 
"Oh!  father,  let  us  go  on  farther!  It  is  so  beautiful! 
so  beautiful!     Let  us  walk  to  the  foot,  I  beg  of  you!" 

This  time  the  Marquis  refused:  "No,  my  dar- 
ling, 1  have  walked  enough;  1  can't  go  any  farther. 
If  you  want  to  see  it  more  closely,  go  on  there  with 
M.  Bretigny.     I  will  wait  here  for  you." 

Paul  asked:     "Will  you  come,  Madame?" 

She  hesitated,  seized  by  two  apprehensions,  that 
of  finding  herself  alone  with  him,  and  that  of  wound- 
ing an  honest  man  by  having  the  appearance  of  sus- 
pecting him. 

The  Marquis  repeated:  "Go  on!  Go  on!  1  will 
wait  for  you." 

Then  she  took  it  for  granted  that  her  father  would 
remain  within  reach  of  their  voices,  and  she  said 
resolutely:     "Let  us  go  on,  Monsieur." 

But  scarcely  had  she  walked  on  for  some  minutes 
when  she  felt  herself  possessed   by  a    poignant   emo- 


124  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

tion,  by  a  vague,  mysterious  fear  —  fear  of  the  ruin, 
fear  of  the  night,  fear  of  this  man.  Suddenly  she 
felt  her  legs  trembling  under  her,  just  as  she  felt  the 
other  night  by  the  lake  of  Tazenat;  they  refused  to 
bear  her  any  further,  bent  under  her,  appeared  to  be 
sinking  into  the  soil,  where  her  feet  remained  fixed 
when  she  strove  to  raise  them. 

A  large  chestnut-tree,  planted  close  to  the  path 
they  had  been  pursuing,  sheltered  one  side  of  a 
meadow.  Christiane,  out  of  breath  just  as  if  she  had 
been  running,  let  herself  sink  against  the  trunk. 
And  she  stammered:  "1  shall  remain  here  —  we  can 
see  very  well." 

Paul  sat  down  beside  her.  She  heard  his  heart 
beating  with  great  emotional  throbs.  He  said,  after 
a  brief  silence:  "Do  you  believe  that  we  have  had 
a  previous  life  ?" 

She  murmured,  without  having  well  understood 
his  question:  "1  don't  know,  I  have  never  thought 
on  it." 

He  went  on:  "But  1  believe  it  —  at  moments  — 
or  rather  I  feel  it.  As  being  is  composed  of  a  soul 
and  a  body,  which  seem  distinct,  but  are,  without 
doubt,  only  one  whole  of  the  same  nature,  it  must 
reappear  when  the  elements  which  have  originally 
formed  it  find  themselves  together  for  the  second 
time.  It  is  not  the  same  individual  assuredly,  but  it 
is  the  same  man  who  comes  back  when  a  body  like 
the  previous  form  finds  itself  inhabited  by  a  soul  like 
that  which  animated  him  formerly.  Well,  I,  to-night, 
feel  sure,  Madame,  that  I  lived  in  that  chateau,  that 
I  possessed  it.  that  I  fought  there,  that  I  defended  it. 
I    recognized    it  —  it    was    mine,    I    am    certain    of   it! 


MONT    ORIOL 


125 


And  I  am  also  certain  that  I  loved  there  a  woman 
who  resembled  you,  and  who,  like  you,  bore  the 
name  of  Christiane.  I  am  so  certain  of  it  that  I 
seem  to  see  you  still  calling  me  from  the  top  of  that 
tower. 

"Search  your  memory!  recall  it  to  your  mind! 
There  is  a  wood  at  the  back,  which  descends  into  a 
deep  valley.  We  have  often  walked  there.  You  had 
light  robes  in  the  summer  evenings,  and  I  wore 
heavy  armor,  which  clanked  beneath  the  trees.  You 
do  not  recollect.^  Look  back,  then,  Christiane!  Why, 
your  name  is  as  familiar  to  me  as  those  we  hear  in 
childhood!  Were  we  to  inspect  carefully  all  the 
stones  of  this  fortress,  we  should  find  it  there  carved 
by  my  hand  in  days  of  yore!  I  declare  to  you  that 
I  recognize  my  dwelling-place,  my  country,  just  as  I 
recognized  you,  you,  the  first  time  I  saw  you!" 

He  spoke  in  an  exalted  tone  of  conviction,  poetic- 
ally intoxicated  by  contact  with  this  woman,  and  by 
the  night,  by  the  moon,  and  by  the  ruin. 

He  abruptly  flung  himself  on  his  knees  before 
Christiane,  and,  in  a  trembling  voice  said:  "Let  me 
adore  you  still  since  I  have  found  you  again!  Here 
have  I  been  searching  for  you  a  long  time!" 

She  wanted  to  rise  and  to  go  away,  to  join  her 
father,  but  she  had  not  the  strength;  she  had  not  the 
courage,  held  back,  paralyzed  by  a  burning  desire  to 
listen  to  him  still,  to  hear  those  ravishing  words  enter- 
ing her  heart.  She  felt  herself  carried  away  in  a 
dream,  in  the  dream  always  hoped  for,  so  sweet,  so 
poetic,  full  of  rays  of  moonlight   and  lays  of  love. 

He  had  seized  her  hands,  and  was  kissing  the 
ends  of  her  finger-nails,  murmuring: 


126  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

"Christiane  —  Christiane  —  take  me  —  kill  mel  I 
love  you,  Christiane!" 

She  felt  him  quivering,  shuddering  at  her  feet. 
And  now  he  kissed  her  knees,  while  his  chest  heaved 
v/ith  sobs.  She  was  afraid  that  he  was  going  mad, 
and  started  up  to  make  her  escape.  But  he  had  risen 
more  quickly,  and  seizing  her  in  his  arms  he  pressed 
his  mouth  against  hers. 

Then,  without  a  cry,  without  revolt,  without  re- 
sistance, she  let  herself  sink  back  on  the  grass,  as  if 
this  caress,  by  breaking  her  will,  had  crushed  her 
physical  power  to  struggle.  And  he  possessed  her 
with  as  much  ease  as  if  he  were    culling  a  ripe  fruit. 

But  scarcely  had  he  loosened  his  clasp  when  she 
rose  up  distracted,  and  rushed  away  shuddering  and 
icy-cold  all  of  a  sudden,  like  one  who  had  just  fallen 
into  the  water.  He  overtook  her  with  a  few  strides, 
and  caught  her  by  the  arm,  whispering:  "Chris- 
tiane, Christiane!  Be  on  your  guard  with  your 
father!" 

She  walked  on  without  answering,  without  turn- 
ing round,  going  straight  before  her  with  stiff,  jerky 
steps.  He  followed  her  now  without  venturing  to 
speak  to  her. 

As  soon  as  the  Marquis  saw  them,  he  rose  up: 
"Hurry,"  said  he;  "1  was  beginning  to  get  cold. 
These  things  are  very  fine  to  look  at,  but  bad  for 
one  undergoing  thermal   treatment!" 

Christiane  pressed  herself  close  to  her  father's  side, 
as  if  to  appeal  to  him  for  protection  and  take  refuge 
in  his  tenderness. 

As  soon  as  she  had  re-entered  her  apartment,  she 
undressed  herself  in  a  few  seconds  and  buried  herself 


MONT    ORIOL 


127 


in  her  bad,  hiding  her  head  under  the  clothes ;  then 
she  wept.  She  wept  with  her  face  pressed  against 
the  pillow  for  a  long,  long  time,  inert,  annihilated. 
She  did  not  think,  she  did  not  suffer,  she  did  not 
regret.  She  wept  without  thinking,  without  reflect- 
ing, without  knowing  why.  She  wept  instinctively 
as  one  sings  when  one  feels  gay.  Then,  when  her 
tears  were  exhausted,  overwhelmed,  paralyzed  with 
sobbing,  she  fell  asleep  from  fatigue  and  lassitude. 

She  was  awakened  by  light  taps  at  the  door  of 
her  room,  which  looked  out  on  the  drawing-room. 
It  was  broad  daylight,  as  it  was  nine  o'clock. 

"Come  in,"  she  cried. 

And  her  husband  presented  himself,  joyous,  ani- 
mated, wearing  a  traveling-cap  and  carrying  by  his 
side  his  little  money-bag,  which  he  was  never  with- 
out while  on  a  journey. 

He  exclaimed:  "What?  You  were  sleeping  still, 
my  dear!  And  I  had  to  awaken  you.  There  you 
are!  1  arrived  without  announcing  myself.  I  hope 
you  are  going  on  well.  It  is  superb  weather  in 
Paris." 

And  having  taken  off  his  cap,  he  advanced  to 
embrace  her.  She  drew  herself  away  toward  the 
wall,  seized  by  a  wild  fear,  by  a  nervous  dread  of 
this  little  man,  with  his  smug,  rosy  countenance,  who 
had  stretched  out  his  lips  toward  her. 

Then,  abruptly,  she  offered  him  her  forehead, 
while  she  closed  her  eyes.  He  planted  there  a  chaste 
kiss,  and  asked:  "Will  you  allow  me  to  wash  in 
your  dressing-room  ?  As  no  one  attended  on  me 
to-day,  my  room  was  not  prepared." 

She   stammered:  "Why,  certainly." 


128  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

And  he  disappeared  through  a  door  at  the  end  of 
the  bed. 

She  heard  him  moving  about,  splashing,  snorting; 
then  he  cried:  "What  news  here?  For  my  part,  I 
have  splendid  news.  The  analysis  of  the  water  has 
given  unexpected  results.  We  can  cure  at  least  three 
times  more  patients  than  they  can  at  Royat.  It  is 
superb!  " 

She  was  sitting  in  the  bed,  suffocating,  her  brain 
overwrought  by  this  unforeseen  return,  which  hurt  her 
like  a  physical  pain  and  gripped  her  like  a  pang  of 
remorse.  He  reappeared,  self-satisfied,  spreading 
around  him  a  strong  odor  of  verbena.  Then  he  sat 
down  familiarly  at  the  foot  of  the  bed,  and  asked: 

"And  the  paralytic?"  How  is  he  going  on?  Is  he 
beginning  to  walk?  It  is  not  possible  that  he  is  not 
cured  with  what  we  found  in  the  water!" 

She  had  forgotten  all  about  it  for  several  days,  and 
she  faltered:  "Why,  I — I  believe  he  is  beginning  to 
walk  better.  Besides,  I  have  not  seen  him  this  week. 
I — I  am  a  little  unwell." 

He  looked  at  her  with  interest,  and  returned:  "It 
is  true,  you  are  a  little  pale.  All  the  same,  it  be- 
comes you  very  well.  You  look  charming  thus  — 
quite  charming." 

And  he  drew  nearer,  and  bending  toward  her  was 
about  to  pass  one  arm  into  the  bed  under  her  waist. 

But  she  made  such  a  backward  movement  of 
terror  that  he  remained  stupefied,  with  his  hands  ex- 
tended and  his  mouth  held  toward  her.  Then  he 
asked:  "  What's  the  matter  with  you  nowadays?  One 
cannot  touch  you  any  longer.  1  assure  you  I  do  not 
intend  to  hurt  you." 


MONT    ORIOL 


129 


And  he  pressed  close  to  her  eagerly,  with  a  glow 
of  sudden  desire  in  his  eyes.     Then  she  stammered: 

"No  —  let  me  be  —  let  me  be!  The  fact  is,  I  be- 
lieve—  I  believe  I  am  pregnant!" 

She  had  said  this,  maddened  by  the  mental  agony 
she  was  enduring,  without  thinking  about  her  words, 
to  avoid  his  touch,  just  as  she  would  have  said:  "I 
have  leprosy,  or  the  plague." 

He  grew  pale  in  his  turn,  moved  by  a  profound 
joy;  and  he  merely  murmured:  "Already!"  He 
yearned  now  to  embrace  her  a  long  time,  softly,  ten- 
derly, as  a  happy  and  grateful  father.  Then,  he  was 
seized  with  uneasiness. 

"Is  it  possible.?  —  What?  —  Are  you  sure?  —  So 
soon  ?" 

She  replied:     "Yes  —  it  is  possible!" 

Then  he  jumped  about  the  room,  and  rubbing  his 
hands,  exclaimed:  "Christi!  Christi!  What  a  happy 
day!" 

'  There  was  another  tap  at  the  door.  Andermatt 
opened  it,  and  a  chambermaid  said  to  him:  "Doctor 
Latonne  would  like  to  speak  to  Monsieur  immedi- 
ately." 

"All  right.  Bring  him  into  our  drawing-room. 
1  am  going  there." 

He  hurried  away  to  the  adjoining  apartment.  The 
doctor  presently  appeared.  His  face  had  a  solemn 
look,  and  his  manner  was  starched  and  cold.  He 
bowed,  touched  the  hand  which  the  banker,  a  little 
surprised,  held  toward  him,  took  a  seat,  and  ex- 
plained in  the  tone  of  a  second  in  an  affair  of  honor: 

"A  very  disagreeable  matter  has  arisen  with  ref- 
erence  to   me,    my   dear   Monsieur,  and,    in   order  to 

8    G.  de  M.— 9 


I30 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


explain  my  conduct,  I  must  give  you  an  account  of 
it.  When  you  did  me  the  honor  to  call  me  in  to  see 
Madame  Andermatt,  I  hastened  to  come  at  the  ap- 
pointed hour;  now  it  has  transpired  that,  a  few 
minutes  before  me,  my  brother-physician,  the  medical 
inspector,  who,  no  doubt,  inspires  more  confidence 
in  the  lady,  had  been  sent  for,  owing  to  the  atten- 
tions of  the  Marquis  de  Ravenel. 

"The  result  of  this  is  that,  having  been  the  second 
to  see  her  I  create  the  impression  of  having  taken  by 
a  trick  from  Doctor  Bonnefille  a  patient  who  already 
belonged  to  him  —  I  create  the  impression  of  having 
committed  an  indelicate  act,  one  unbecoming  and 
unjustifiable  from  one  member  of  the  profession  to- 
ward another.  Now  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  carry, 
Monsieur,  into  the  exercise  of  our  art  certain  precau- 
tions and  unusual  tact  in  order  to  avoid  every  collision 
which  might  lead  to  grave  consequences.  Doctor 
Bonnefille,  having  been  apprised  of  my  visit  here,  be- 
lieving me  capable  of  this  want  of  delicacy,  appear- 
ances being  in  fact  against  me,  has  spoken  about  me 
in  such  terms  that,  were  it  not  for  his  age,  1  would 
have  found  myself  compelled  to  demand  an  explana- 
tion from  him.  There  remains  for  me  only  one 
thing  to  do,  in  order  to  exculpate  myself  in  his  eyes, 
and  in  the  eyes  of  the  entire  medical  body  of  the 
country,  and  that  is  to  cease,  to  my  great  regret,  to 
give  my  professional  attentions  to  your  wife,  and  to 
make  the  entire  truth  about  this  matter  known,  beg- 
ging of  you  in  the  meantime  to  accept  my  excuses." 
Andermatt  replied  with  embarrassment: 
"I  understand  perfectly  well,  doctor,  the  difficult 
situation  in  which  you  find  yourself.     The  fault  is  not 


MONT    ORIOL 


131 


mine  or  my  wife's,  but  that  of  my  father-in-law,  who 
called  in  M.  Bonnefille  without  giving  us  notice. 
Could  I  not  go  to  look  for  your  brother-doctor,  and 
tell  him?  —  " 

Doctor  Latonne  interrupted  him:  "It  is  useless, 
my  dear  Monsieur.  There  is  here  a  question  of  dig- 
nity and  professional  honor,  which  1  am  bound  to 
respect  before  everything,  and,  in  spite  of  my  lively 
regrets  —  " 

Andermatt,  in  his  turn,  interrupted  him.  The  rich 
man,  the  man  who  pays,  who  buys  a  prescription 
for  five,  ten,  twenty,  or  forty  francs,  as  he  does  a 
box  of  matches  for  three  sous,  to  whom  everything 
should  belong  by  the  power  of  his  purse,  and  who 
only  appreciates  beings  and  objects  in  virtue  of  an 
assimilation  of  their  value  with  that  of  money,  of  a 
relation,  rapid  and  direct,  established  between  coined 
metal  and  everything  else  in  the  world,  was  irritated 
at  the  presumption  of  this  vendor  of  remedies  on 
paper.     He  said  in  a  stiff  tone: 

"Be  it  so,  doctor.  Let  us  stop  where  we  are. 
But  1  trust  for  your  own  sake  that  this  step  may  not 
have  a  damaging  influence  on  your  career.  We  shall 
see,  indeed,  which  of  us  two  shall  have  the  most  to 
suffer  from  your  decision." 

The  physician,  offended,  rose  up  and  bowing  with 
the  utmost  politeness,  said:  "1  have  no  doubt.  Mon- 
sieur, it  is  I  who  will  suffer.  That  which  1  have  done 
to-day  is  very  painful  to  me  from  every  point  of  view. 
But  I  never  hesitate  between  my  interests  and  my 
conscience." 

And  he  went  out.  As  he  emerged  through  the 
open  door,  he  knocked  against  the  Marquis,  who  was 


132 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


entering,  with  a  letter  in  his  hand.  And  M.  de 
Ravenel  exclaimed,  as  soon  as  he  was  alone  with  his 
son-in-law:  "Look  here,  my  dear  fellow!  this  is  a 
very  troublesome  thing,  which  has  happened  me 
through  your  fault.  Doctor  Bonnefille,  hurt  by  the 
circumstance  that  you  sent  for  his  brother-physician 
to  see  Christiane,  has  written  me  a  note  couched  in 
very  dry  language  informing  me  that  1  cannot  count 
any  longer  on  his  professional  services," 

Thereupon,  Andermatt  got  quite  annoyed.  He 
walked  up  and  down,  excited  himself  by  talking, 
gesticulated,  full  of  harmless  and  noisy  anger,  that 
kind  of  anger  which  is  never  taken  seriously.  He 
went  on  arguing  in  a  loud  voice.  Whose  fault  was 
it,  after  all  ?  That  of  the  Marquis  alone,  who  had 
called  in  that  pack-ass  Bonnefille  without  giving  any 
notice  of  the  fact  to  him,  though  he  had,  thanks  to 
his  Paris  physician,  been  informed  as  to  the  relative 
value  of  the  three  charlatans  at  Enval!  And  then 
what  business  had  the  Marquis  to  consult  a  doctor, 
behind  the  back  of  the  husband,  the  husband  who 
was  the  only  judge,  the  only  person  responsible  for 
his  wife's  health  ?  In  short,  it  was  the  same  thing 
day  after  day  with  everything!  People  did  nothing 
but  stupid  things  around  him,  nothing  but  stupid 
things!  He  repeated  it  incessantly;  but  he  was  only 
crying  in  the  desert,  nobody  understood,  nobody  put 
faith  in  his  experience,  until  it  was  too  late. 

And  he  said,  "My  physician,"  "My  experience," 
with  the  authoritative  tone  of  a  man  who  has  pos- 
session of  unique  things.  In  his  mouth  the  possessive 
pronouns  had  the  sonorous  ring  of  metals.  And 
when  he  pronounced  the  words  "My  wife,"  one   felt 


MONT    ORIOL 


133 


very  clearly  that  the  Marquis  had  no  longer  any  rights 
with  regard  to  his  daughter  since  Andermatt  had 
married  her,  to  marry  and  to  buy  having  the  same 
meaning  in  the  latter's  mind. 

Gontran  came  in,  at  the  most  lively  stage  of  the 
discussion,  and  seated  himself  in  an  armchair  with 
a  smile  of  gaiety  on  his  lips.  He  said  nothing,  but 
listened,  exceedingly  amused.  When  the  banker 
stopped  talking,  having  fairly  exhausted  his  breath, 
his  brother-in-law  raised  his  hand,  exclaiming: 

"I  request  permission  to  speak.  Here  are  both  of 
you  without  physicians,  isn't  that  so  ?  Well,  1  pro- 
pose my  candidate.  Doctor  Honorat,  the  only  one 
who  has  formed  an  exact  and  unshaken  opinion  on 
the  water  of  Enval.  He  makes  people  drink  it,  but 
he  would  not  drink  it  himself  for  all  the  world.  Do 
you  wish  me  to  go  and  look  for  him  ?  I  will  take 
the  negotiations  on  myself." 

It  was  the  only  thing  to  do,  and  they  begged  of 
Gontran  to  send  for  him  immediately.  The  Marquis, 
filled  with  anxiety  at  the  idea  of  a  change  of  regimen 
and  of  nursing  wanted  to  know  immediately  the 
opinion  of  this  new  physician;  and  Andermatt  desired 
no  less  eagerly  to  consult  him  on  Christiane's  behalf. 

She  heard  their  voices  through  the  door  without 
listening  to  their  words  or  understanding  what  they 
were  talking  about.  As  soon  as  her  husband  had  left 
her,  she  had  risen  from  the  bed,  as  if  from  a  dan- 
gerous spot,  and  hurriedly  dressed  herself,  without 
the  assistance  of  the  chambermaid,  shaken  by  all 
these   occurrences. 

The  woild  appeared  to  her  to  have  changed 
around  her,  her  former  life  seemed  to    have    vanished 


U4 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


since  last  night,  and  people  themselves  looked  quite 
different. 

The  voice  of  Andermatt  was  raised  once  more: 
"Hallo,  my  dear  Bretigny,  how  are  you  getting  on?" 

He  no  longer  used  the  word  "Monsieur."  Another 
voice  could  be  heard  saying  in  reply:  "Why,  quite 
well,  my  dear  Andermatt.  You  only  arrived,  1  sup- 
pose, this  morning?" 

Christiane,  who  was  in  the  act  of  raising  her  hair 
over  her  temples,  stopped  with  a  choking  sensation, 
her  arms  in  the  air.  Through  the  partition,  she  fan- 
cied she  could  see  them  grasping  one  another's  hands. 
She  sat  down,  no  longer  able  to  hold  herself  erect; 
and  her  hair,  rolling  down,  fell  over  her  shoulders. 

It  was  Paul  who  was  speaking  now,  and  she 
shivered  from  head  to  foot  at  every  word  that  came 
from  his  mouth.  Each  word,  whose  meaning  she  did 
not  seize,  fell  and  sounded  on  her  heart  like  a  ham- 
mer striking  a  bell. 

Suddenly,  she  articulated  in  almost  a  loud  tone: 
"But  I  love  him!  —  I  love  him!"  as  though  she  were 
affirming  something  new  and  surprising,  which  saved 
her,  which  consoled  her,  which  proclaimed  her  inno- 
cence before  the  tribunal  of  her  conscience.  A  sud- 
den energy  made  her  rise  up;  in  one  second,  her 
resolution  was  taken.  And  she  proceeded  to  rear- 
range her  hair,  murmuring:  "I  have  a  lover,  that  is 
all.  I  have  a  lover."  Then,  in  order  to  fortify  her- 
self still  more,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  all  mental  dis- 
tress, she  determined  there  and  then,  with  a  burning 
faith,  to  love  him  to  distraction,  to  give  up  to  him 
her  life,  her  happiness,  to  sacrifice  everything  for  him, 
in    accordance    with    the    moral    exaltation    of  hearts 


MONT    ORIOL 


U5 


conquered  T)ut  still  scrupulous,  that  believe  themselves 
to  be  purified  by  devotedness  and  sincerity. 

And,  from  behind  the  wall  which  separated  them, 
she  threw  out  kisses  to  him.  It  was  over;  she  aban- 
doned herself  to  him,  without  reserve,  as  she  might 
have  offered  herself  to  a  god.  The  child  already  co- 
quettish and  artful,  but  still  timid,  still  trembling,  had 
suddenly  died  within  her;  and  the  woman  was  born, 
ready  for  passion,  the  woman  resolute,  tenacious,  an- 
nounced only  up  to  this  time  by  the  energy  hidden 
in  her  blue  eye,  which  gave  an  air  of  courage  and 
almost  of  bravado  to  her  dainty  white  face. 

She  heard  the  door  opening,  and  did  not  turn 
round,  divining  that  it  was  her  husband,  without  see- 
ing him,  as  though  a  new  sense,  almost  an  instinct, 
had  just  been  generated  in  her  also. 

He  asked:  "Will  you  be  soon  ready?  We  are  all 
going  presently  to  the  paralytic's  bath,  to  see  if  he  is 
really  getting  better." 

She  replied  calmly:  "Yes,  my  dear  Will,  in  five 
minutes." 

But  Gontran,  returning  to  the  drawing-room,  was 
calling  back  Andermatt. 

"Just  imagine,"  said  he;  "I  met  that  idiot  Hon- 
orat  in  the  park,  and  he,  too,  refuses  to  attend  you 
for  fear  of  the  others.  He  talks  of  professional  eti- 
quette, deference,  usages.  One  would  imagine  that 
he  creates  the  impression  of — in  short,  he  is  a  fool, 
like  his  two  brother-physicians.  Certainly,  I  thought 
he  was  less  of  an  ape  than  that." 

The  Marquis  remained  overwhelmed.  The  idea  of 
taking  the  waters  without  a  physician,  of  bathing  for 
five    minutes   longer   than   necessary,  of  drinking  one 


l^S  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

glass  less  than  he  ought,  tortured  him  with  appre- 
hension, for  he  believed  all  the  doses,  the  hours,  and 
the  phases  of  the  treatment,  to  be  regulated  by  a  law 
of  nature,  which  had  made  provision  for  invalids  in 
causing  the  flow  of  those  mineral  springs,  all  whose 
mysterious  secrets  the  doctors  knew,  like  priests  in- 
spired and  learned. 

He  exclaimed:  "So  then  we  must  die  here  —  we 
may  perish  like  dogs,  without  any  of  these  gentle- 
men putting  himself  about!" 

And  rage  took  possession  of  him,  the  rage  ego- 
tistical and  unreasoning  of  a  man  whose  health  is  en- 
dangered. 

"Have  they  any  right  to  do  this,  since  they  pay 
for  a  license  like  grocers,  these  blackguards  ?  We 
ought  to  have  the  power  of  forcing  them  to  attend 
people,  as  trains  can  be  forced  to  take  all  passengers. 
I  am  going  to  write  to  the  newspapers  to  draw  at- 
tention to  the  matter." 

He  walked  about,  in  a  state  of  excitement;  and  he 
went  on,  turning  toward  his  son: 

"Listen!  It  will  be  necessary  to  send  for  one  to 
Royat  or  Clermont.     We   can't   remain  in  this  state,'' 

Gontran  replied,  laughing:  "But  those  of  Clermont 
and  of  Royat  are  not  well  acquainted  with  the  liquid 
of  Enval,  which  has  not  the  same  special  action  as 
their  water  on  the  digestive  system  and  on  the  cir- 
culatory apparatus.  And  then,  be  sure,  they  won't 
come  any  more  than  the  others  in  order  to  avoid  the 
appearance  of  taking  the  bread  out  of  their  brother- 
doctors'  mouths." 

The  Marquis,  quite  scared,  faltered:  "But  what, 
then,  is  to  become  of  us?" 


MONT    ORIOL 


137 


Andermatt  snatched  up  his  hat,  saying:  "Let  me 
settle  it,  and  I'll  answer  for  it  that  we'll  have  the  en- 
tire three  of  them  this  evening  —  you  understand 
clearly,  the  —  entire  —  three  —  at  our  knees.  Let  us  go 
now  and  see  the    paralytic." 

He  cried:  "Are  you  ready,  Christiane?" 

She  appeared  at  the  door,  very  pale,  with  a  look 
of  determination.  Having  embraced  her  father  and 
her  brother,  she  turned  toward  Paul,  and  extended 
her  hand  toward  him.  He  took  it,  with  downcast 
eyes,  quivering  with  emotion.  As  the  Marquis,  An- 
dermatt, and  Gontran  had  gone  on  before,  chatting, 
and  without  minding  them,  she  said,  in  a  firm  voice, 
fixing  on  the  young  man  a  tender  and  decided  glance: 

"I  belong  to  you,  body  and  soul.  Do  with  me 
henceforth  what  you  please."  Then  she  walked  on, 
without  giving  him  an  opportunity  of  replying. 

As  they  drew  near  the  Oriols'  spring,  they  per- 
ceived, like  an  enormous  mushroom,  the  hat  of  Pere 
Clovis,  who  was  sleeping  beneath  the  rays  of  the 
sun,  in  the  warm  water  at  the  bottom  of  the  hole. 
He  now  spent  the  entire  morning  there,  having  got 
accustomed  to  this  boiling  water  which  made  him, 
he  said,  more  lively  than  a  yearling. 

Andermatt  woke  him  up:  "Well,  my  fine  fellow, 
you   are  going  on  better.?" 

When  he  had  recognized  his  patron,  the  old  fellow 
made  a  grimace  of  satisfaction:  "Yes,  yes,  I  am  go- 
ing on  —  I  am  going  on  as  well  as  you  please." 

"Are  you  beginning  to  walk?" 

"Like  a  rabbit,  Mochieu  —  like  a  rabbit.  1  will 
dance  a  boree  with  my  sweetheart  on  the  first  Sunday 
of  the  month." 


138 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 


Andermatt  felt  his  heart  beating;  he  repeated:  "It 
is  true,  then,  that  you  are  walking?" 

Pere  Clovis  ceased  jesting.  "Oh!  not  very  much, 
not  very  much.  No  matter — I'm  getting  on  —  I'm 
getting  on!" 

Then  the  banker  wanted  to  see  at  once  how  the 
vagabond  walked.  He  kept  rushing  about  the  hole, 
got  agitated,  gave  orders,  as  if  he  were  going  to  float 
again  a  ship  that  had  foundered. 

"Look  here,  Gontran!  you  take  the  right  arm. 
You,  Bretigny,  the  left  arm.  1  am  going  to  keep  up 
his  back.  Come  on!  together!  —  one  —  two  —  three! 
My  dear  father-in-law,  draw  the  leg  toward  you  — 
no,  the  other,  the  one  that's  in  the  water.  Quick, 
pray!  I  can't  hold  out  longer.  There  we  are  —  one, 
two  — there !  —  ouf !  " 

They  had  put  the  old  trickster  sitting  on  the 
ground;  and  he  allowed  them  to  do  it  with  a  jeering 
look,  without  in  any  way  assisting  their  efforts. 

Then  they  raised  him  up  again,  and  set  him  on 
his  legs,  giving  him  his  crutches,  which  he  used  like 
walking-sticks;  and  he  began  to  step  out,  bent  double, 
dragging  his  feet  after  him,  whining  and  blowing.  He 
advanced  in  the  fashion  of  a  slug,  and  left  behind  him 
a  long  trail  of  water  on  the  white  dust  of  the   road. 

Andermatt,  in  a  state  of  enthusiasm,  clapped  his 
hands,  crying  out  as  people  do  at  theaters  when 
applauding  the  actors:  "Bravo,  bravo,  admirable, 
bravo!  !  !" 

Then,  as  the  old  fellow  seemed  exhausted,  he 
rushed  forward  to  hold  him  up,  seized  him  in  his 
arms,  although  his  clothes  were  streaming,  and  he 
kept  repeating: 


MONT    ORIOL  139 

"Enough,  don't  fatigue  yourself!  We  are  going 
to  put  you  back  into  your  bath." 

And  Pere  Clovis  was  plunged  once  more  into  his 
hole  by  the  four  men  who  caught  him  by  his  four 
limbs  and  carried  him  carefully  like  a  fragile  and  pre- 
cious object. 

Then,  the  paralytic  observed  in  a  tone  of  convic- 
tion: "It  is  good  water,  all  the  same,  good  water 
that  hasn't  an  equal.  It  is  worth  a  treasure,  water 
like  that!" 

Andermatt  turned  round  suddenly  toward  his 
father-in-law:  "Don't  keep  breakfast  waiting  for  me. 
I  am  going  to  the  Oriols',  and  I  don't  know  when  I'll 
be  free.     It  is  necessary  not  to  let  these  things  drag!" 

And  he  set  forth  in  a  hurry,  almost  running,  and 
twirling  his  stick  about  like  a  man  bewitched. 

The  others  sat  down  under  the  willows,  at  the 
side  of  the  road,  opposite  Pere  Clovis's  hole. 

Christiane,  at  Paul's  side,  saw  in  front  of  her  the 
high  knoll  from  which  she  had  seen  the  rock  blown  up. 

She  had  been  up  there  that  day,  scarcely  a  month 
ago.  She  had  been  sitting  on  that  russet  grass. 
One  month!  Only  one  month!  She  recalled  the 
most  trifling  details,  the  tricolored  parasols,  the  scul- 
lions, the  slightest  things  said  by  each  of  them! 
And  the  dog,  the  poor  dog  crushed  by  the  explo- 
sion! And  that  big  youth,  then  a  stranger  to  her, 
who  had  rushed  forward  at  one  word  uttered  by  her 
lips  in  order  to  save  the  animal.  To-day,  he  was 
her  lover!  her  lover!  So  then  she  had  a  lover!  She 
was  his  mistress  —  his  mistress!  She  repeated  this 
word  in  the  recesses  of  her  consciousness  —  his  mis- 
tress!    What   a   strange  word!     This  man,  sitting  by 


14© 


WORKS  OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


her  side,  whose  hand  she  saw  tearing  up  one  by 
one  blades  of  grass,  close  to  her  dress,  which  he 
was  seeking  to  touch,  this  man  was  now  bound  to 
her  flesh  and  to  his  heart,  by  that  mysterious  chain, 
buried  in  secrecy  and  mystery,  which  nature  has 
stretched  between  woman  and   man. 

With  that  voice  of  thought,  that  mute  voice  which 
seems  to  speak  so  loudly  in  the  silence  of  troubled 
souls,  she  incessantly  repeated  to  herself:  "  I  am  his 
mistress!  his  mistress!"  How  strange,  how  unfore- 
seen, a  thing  this  was! 

"Do  I  love  him?"  She  cast  a  rapid  glance  at 
him.  Their  eyes  met,  and  she  felt  herself  so  much 
caressed  by  the  passionate  look  with  which  he  cov- 
ered her,  that  she  trembled  from  head  to  foot.  She 
felt  a  longing  now,  a  wild,  irresistible  longing,  to 
take  that  hand  which  was  toying  with  the  grass,  and 
to  press  it  very  tightly  in  order  to  convey  to  him  all 
that  may  be  said  by  a  clasp.  She  let  her  own  hand 
slip  along  her  dress  down  to  the  grass,  then  laid  it 
there  motionless,  with  the  fingers  spread  wide.  Then 
she  saw  the  other  come  softly  toward  it  like  an  am- 
orous animal  seeking  his  companion.  It  came  nearer 
and  nearer;  and  their  little  fingers  touched.  They 
grazed  one  another  at  the  ends  gently,  barely,  lost 
one  another  and  found  one  another  again,  like  lips 
meeting.  But  this  imperceptible  caress,  this  slight 
contact  entered  into  her  being  so  violently  that  she 
felt  herself  growing  faint  as  if  he  were  once  more 
straining  her  between  his  arms. 

And  she  suddenly  understood  how  a  woman  can 
belong  to  some  man,  how  she  no  longer  is  anything 
under    the   love    that    possesses   her,    how   that    other 


MONT    ORIOL 


141 


being  takes  her  body  and  soul,  flesh,  thought,  will, 
blood,  nerves, —  all,  all,  all  that  is  in  her, —  just  as  a 
huge  bird  of  prey  with  large  wings  swoops  down  on 
a  wren. 

The  Marquis  and  Gontran  talked  about  the  future 
station,  themselves  won  over  by  Will's  enthusiasm. 
And  they  spoke  of  the  banker's  merits,  the  clearness 
of  his  mind,  the  sureness  of  his  judgment,  the  cer- 
tainty of  his  system  of  speculation,  the  boldness  of 
his  operations,  and  the  regularity  of  his  character. 
Father-in-law  and  brother-in-law,  in  the  face  of  this 
probable  success,  of  which  they  felt  certain,  were  in 
agreement,  and  congratulated  one  another  on  this  al- 
liance. 

Christiane  and  Paul  did  not  seem  to  hear,  so 
much  occupied  were  they  with  each  other. 

The  Marquis  said  to  his  daughter:  "Hey!  dar- 
ling, you  may  perhaps  one  day  be  one  of  the  richest 
women  in  France,  and  people  will  talk  of  you  as 
they  do  about  the  Rothschilds.  Will  has  truly  a  re- 
markable, very  remarkable  —  a  great  intelligence." 

But  a  morose  and  whimsical  jealousy  entered  all 
at  once  into  Paul's  heart. 

"Let  me  alone  now,"  said  he,  "1  know  it,  the 
intelligence  of  all  those  engaged  in  stirring  up  busi- 
ness. They  have  only  one  thing  in  their  heads  — 
money!  All  the  thoughts  that  we  bestov/  on  beauti- 
ful things,  all  the  actions  that  we  waste  on  our 
caprices,  all  the  hours  which  we  fling  away  for  our 
distractions,  all  the  strength  that  we  squander  on 
our  pleasures,  all  the  ardor  and  the  power  which 
love,  divine  love,  takes  from  us,  they  employ  in  seek- 
ing for  gold,  in  thinking  of  gold,  in   amassing   gold! 


142 


WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 


The  man  of  intelligence  lives  for  all  the  great  disin- 
terested tendernesses,  the  arts,  love,  science,  travels, 
books;  and,  if  he  seeks  money,  it  is  because  this 
facilitates  the  true  pleasures  of  intellect  and  even  the 
happiness  of  the  heart!  But  they  —  they  have  noth- 
ing in  their  minds  or  their  hearts  but  this  ignoble 
taste  for  traffic!  They  resemble  men  of  worth,  these 
skimmers  of  life,  just  as  much  as  the  picture-dealer 
resembles  the  painter,  as  the  publisher  resembles  the 
writer,  as  the  theatrical  manager  resembles  the  dra- 
matic poet." 

He  suddenly  became  silent,  realizing  that  he  had 
allowed  himself  to  be  carried  away,  and  in  a  calmer 
voice  he  went  on:  "1  don't  say  that  of  Andermatt, 
whom  1  consider  a  charming  man.  I  like  him  a 
great  deal,  because  he  is  a  hundred  times  superior 
to    all    the    others." 

Christiane  had  withdrawn  her  hand.  Paul  once 
more  stopped  talking.  Gontran  began  to  laugh;  and, 
in  his  malicious  voice,  with  which  he  ventured  to 
say  everything,  in  his  hours  of  mocking  and  rail- 
lery: 

"In  any  case,  my  dear  fellow,  these  men  have 
one  rare  merit:  that  is,  to  marry  our  sisters  and  to 
have  rich  daughters,  who  become  our  wives." 

The  Marquis,  annoyed,  rose  up:  "Oh!  Gontran, 
you  are  perfectly   revolting." 

Paul  thereupon  turned  toward  Christiane,  and 
murmured:  "Would  they  know  how  to  die  for  one 
woman,  or  even  to  give  her  all  their  fortune  —  all  — 
without  keeping  anything?" 

This  meant  so  clearly:  "All  1  have  is  yours,  in- 
cluding  my    life,"    that    she    was    touched,    and   she 


MONT    ORIOL 


143 


adopted   this   device    in   order   to    take    his   hands   in 
hers: 

"Rise,  and  lift  me  up.  I  am  benumbed  from  not 
moving." 

He  stood  erect,  seized  her  by  the  wrists,  and 
drawing  her  up  placed  her  standing  on  the  edge  of 
the  road  close  to  his  side.  She  saw  his  mouth  articu- 
lating the  words,  "1  love  you,"  and  she  quickly 
turned  aside,  to  avoid  saying  to  him  in  reply  three 
words  which  rose  to  her  lips  in  spite  of  her,  in  a 
burst  of  passion  which  was  drawing  her  toward 
him. 

They  returned  to  the  hotel.  The  hour  for  the  bath 
was  passed.  They  awaited  the  breakfast-bell.  It  rang,  ■ 
but  Andermatt  did  not  make  his  appearance.  After 
taking  another  turn  in  the  park,  they  resolved  to  sit 
down  to  table.  The  meal,  although  a  long  one,  was 
finished  before  the  return  of  the  banker.  They  went 
back  to  sit  down  under  the  trees.  And  the  hours 
stole  by,  one  after  another;  the  sun  glided  over  the 
leaves,  bending  toward  the  mountains;  the  day  was 
ebbing  toward  its  close;  and  yet  Will  did  not  present 
himself. 

All  at  once,  they  saw  him.  He  was  walking 
quickly,  his  hat  in  his  hand,  wiping  his  forehead,  his 
necktie  on  one  side,  his  v/aistcoat  half  open,  as  if 
after  a  journey,  after  a  struggle,  after  a  terrible  and 
prolonged  effort. 

As  soon  as  he  beheld  his  father-in-law,  he  ex- 
claimed: "Victory!  'tis  done!  But  what  a  day,  my 
friends!     Ah!  the  old  fox,  what  trouble  he  gave  me!" 

And  immediately  he  explained  the  steps  he  had 
taken  and  the  obstacles  he  had  met  with. 


/44  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

Pere  Oriol  had,  at  first,  shown  himself  so  un- 
reasonable that  Andermatt  was  breaking  off  the  nego- 
tiations and  going  away.  Then  the  peasant  called 
him  back.  The  old  man  pretended  that  he  would 
not  sell  his  lands  but  would  assign  them  to  the  Com- 
pany with  the  right  to  resume  possession  of  them  in 
case  of  ill  success.  In  case  of  success,  he  demanded 
half  the  profits. 

The  banker  had  to  demonstrate  to  him,  with  fig- 
ures on  paper  and  tracings  to  indicate  the  different 
bits  of  land,  that  the  fields  all  together  would  not  be 
worth  more  than  forty-five  thousand  francs  at  the 
present  hour,  while  the  expenses  of  the  Company 
would  mount  up  at  one  swoop  to  a  million. 

But  the  Auvergnat  replied  that  he  expected  to 
benefit  by  the  enormously  increased  value  that  would 
be  given  to  his  property  by  the  erection  of  the  estab- 
lishment and  hotels,  and  to  draw  his  interest  in  the 
undertaking  in  accordance  with  the  acquired  value 
and  not  the  previous  value. 

Andermatt  had  then  to  represent  to  him  that 
the  risks  should  be  proportionate  with  the  possible 
gains,  and  to  terrify  him  with  the  apprehension  of 
the  loss. 

They  accordingly  arrived  at  this  agreement:  Pere 
Oriol  was  to  assign  to  the  Company  all  the  grounds 
stretching  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  stream,  that  is 
to  say,  all  those  in  which  it  appeared  possible  to  find 
mineral  water,  and  in  addition  the  top  of  the  knoll, 
in  order  to  erect  there  a  casino  and  a  hotel,  and 
some  vine-plots  on  the  slope  which  should  be  divided 
into  lots  and  offered  to  the  leading  physicians  of 
Paris. 


MONT    ORIOL  ,45 

The  peasant,  in  return  for  this  apportionment 
valued  at  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs,  that 
is,  at  about  four  times  its  value,  would  participate  to 
the  extent  of  a  quarter  in  the  profits  of  the  Company. 
As  there  was  very  much  more  land,  which  he  did  not 
part  with,  round  the  future  establishment,  he  was 
sure,  in  case  of  success,  to  realize  a  fortune  by  sell- 
ing on  reasonable  terms  these  grounds,  which  would 
constitute,  he  said,  the  dowry  of  his  daughters. 

As  soon  as  these  conditions  had  been  arrived  at. 
Will  had  to  carry  the  father  and  the  son  with  him  to 
the  notary's  office  in  order  to  have  a  promise  of  sale 
drawn  up  defeasible  in  the  event  of  their  not  finding 
the  necessary  water.  And  the  drawing  up  of  the 
agreement,  the  discussion  of  every  point,  the  indefi- 
nite repetition  of  the  same  arguments,  the  eternal 
commencement  over  again  of  the  same  contentions, 
had  lasted  all  the  afternoon. 

At  last  the  matter  was  concluded.  The  banker 
had  got  his  station.  But  he  repeated,  devoured  by  a 
regret:  "It  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  confine  my- 
self to  the  water  without  thinking  of  the  questions 
about  the  land.      He  has  been  cunning,  the  old  ape." 

Then  he  added:  "Bah!  I'll  buy  up  the  old  Com- 
pany, and  it  is  on  that  I  may  speculate!  No  matter 
—  it  is  necessary  that  I  should  start  this  evening  again 
for  Paris." 

The  Marquis,  astounded,  cried  out:  "What?  This 
evening?" 

"Why,  yes,  my  dear  father-in-law,  in  order  to  get 
the  definitive  instrument  prepared,  while  M,  Aubry- 
Pasteur  will  be  making  excavations.  It  is  necessary 
also   that    I   should   make  arrangements  to  commence 

8    C.  dc  M.— 10 


146  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

the  works  in  a  fortnight.  I  haven't  an  hour  to  lose. 
With  regard  to  this,  I  must  inform  you  that  you  are 
to  constitute  a  portion  of  my  board  of  directors  in 
which  I  will  need  a  strong  majority.  1  give  you  ten 
shares.     To  you,  Gontran,  also  I  give  ten  shares." 

Gontran  began  to  laugh:  "Many  thanks,  my  dear 
fellow.  I  sell  them  back  to  you.  That  makes  five 
thousand  francs  you  owe  me." 

But  Andermatt  no  longer  felt  in  a  mood  for  joking, 
when  dealing  with  business  of  so  much  importance. 
He  resumed  dryly:  "If  you  are  not  serious,  I  will  ad- 
dress myself  to  another  person." 

Gontran  ceased  laughing:  "No,  no,  my  good 
friend,  you  know  that  I  have  cleared  off  everything 
with  you." 

The  banker  turned  toward  Paul:  "My  dear  Mon- 
sieur, will  you  render  me  a  friendly  service,  that  is, 
to  accept  also  ten  shares  with  the  rank  of  director?" 

Paul,  with  a  bow,  replied:  "You  will  permit  me, 
Monsieur,  not  to  accept  this  graceful  offer,  but  to  put 
a  hundred  thousand  francs  into  the  undertaking,  which 
I  consider  a  superb  one.  So  then  it  is  I  who  have 
to  ask  for  a  favor  from  you." 

William,  ravished,  seized  his  hands.  This  confi- 
dence had  conquered  him.  Besides  he  always  ex- 
perienced an  irresistible  desire  to  embrace  persons 
who  brought  him  money  for  his  enterprises. 

But  Christiane  crimsoned  to  her  temples,  pained, 
bruised.  It  seemed  to  her  that  she  had  just  been 
bought  and  sold.  If  he  had  not  loved  her,  would  Paul 
have  offered  these  hundred  thousand  francs  to  her 
husband?  No,  undoubtedly!  He  should  not,  at  least, 
have  entered  into  this  transaction  in  her  presence. 


MONT    ORIOL 


•47 


The  dinner-bell  rang.  They  re-entered  the  hotel. 
As  soon  as  they  were  seated  at  table,  Madame 
PaiUe,  the  mother,  asked  Andermatt: 

"So  you  are  going  to  set  up  another  establish- 
ment?" 

The  news  had  already  gone  through  the  entire 
district,  was  known  to  everyone,  it  put  the  bathers 
into  a  state  of  commotion. 

William  replied:  "Good  heavens,  yes!  The  exist- 
ing one  is  too  defective!" 

And  turning  round  to  M.  Aubry- Pasteur:  "You 
will  excuse  me,  dear  Monsieur,  for  speaking  to  you 
at  dinner  of  a  step  which  I  wished  to  take  with  re- 
gard to  you;  but  I  am  starting  again  for  Paris,  and 
time  presses  on  me  terribly.  Will  you  consent  to  direct 
the  work  of  excavation,  in  order  to  find  a  volume  of 
superior  water?" 

The  engineer,  feeling  flattered,  accepted  the  office. 
In  five  minutes  everything  had  been  discussed  and 
settled  with  the  clearness  and  precision  which  Ander- 
matt imported  into  all  matters  of  business.  Then 
they  talked  about  the  paralytic.  He  had  been  seen 
crossing  the  park  in  the  afternoon  with  only  one 
walking-stick,  although  that  morning  he  had  used 
two.  The  banker  kept  repeating:  "This  is  a  miracle, 
a  real  miracle.     His  cure  proceeds  with  giant  strides!  " 

Paul,  to  please  the  husband,  rejoined:  "It  is  Pere 
Clovis  himself  who  walks  with  giant  strides." 

A  laugh  of  approval  ran  round  the  table.  Every 
eye  was  fixed  on  Will;  every  mouth  complimented 
him. 

The  waiters  of  the  restaurant  made  it  their  busi- 
ness  to  serve  him  the   first,  with    a   respectful   defer- 


148  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

ence,  which   disappeared   from   their  faces  as  soon  as 
they  passed  the  dishes  to  the  next  guest. 

One  of  them  presented  to  him  a  card  on  a  plate. 
He   took    it   up,  and   read   it,  half  aloud: 

"Doctor  Latonne  of  Paris  would  be  happy  if  M.  Andermatt  would 
be  kind  enough  to  give  him  an  interview  of  a  few  seconds  before  hii 
departure. " 

"Tell  him  in  reply  that  I  have  no  time,  but  that 
I  will  be  back  in  eight  or  ten  days." 

At  the  same  moment,  a  box  of  flowers  sent  by 
Doctor  Honorat   was  presented  to  Christiane. 

Gontran  laughed:  "Pere  Bonnefille  is  a  bad  third," 
said  he. 

The  dinner  was  nearly  over.  Andermatt  was  in- 
formed that  his  landau  was  waiting  for  him.  He  went 
up  to  look  for  his  little  bag;  and  when  he  came  down 
again  he  saw  half  the  village  gathered  in  front  of  the 
door. 

Petrus  Martel  came  to  grasp  his  hand,  with  the 
familiarity  of  a  strolling  actor,  and  murmured  in  his 
ear:  "1  shall  have  a  proposal  to  make  to  you  — 
something  stunning  —  with  reference  to  your  under- 
taking." 

Suddenly,  Doctor  Bonnefille  appeared,  hurrying  in 
his  usual  fashion.  He  passed  quite  close  to  Will,  and 
bowing  very  low  to  him  as  he  would  do  to  the  Mar- 
quis, he  said  to  him: 

"A  pleasant  journey,  Baron." 

"That  settles  it!"  murmured  Gontran. 

Andermatt,  triumphant,  swelling  with  joy  and  pride, 
pressed  the  hands  extended  toward  him,  thanked 
them,  and  kept  repeating:  "  Au  revoir !  " 


MONT    ORIOL 


149 


He  was  nearly  forgetting  to  embrace  his  wife, 
so  much  was  he  thinking  about  other  things.  This 
indifference  was  a  relief  to  her,  and,  when  she  saw 
the  hmdau  moving  away  on  the  darkening  road,  as 
the  horses  broke  into  a  quick  trot,  it  seemed  to  her 
that  she  had  nothing  more  to  fear  from  anyone  for 
the  rest  of  her  life. 

She  spent  the  whole  evening  seated  in  front  of 
the  hotel,  between  her  father  and  Paul  Bretigny,  Gon- 
tran  having  gone  to  the  Casino,  where  he  went  every 


evenmg. 


She  did  not  want  either  to  walk  or  to  talk,  and 
remained  motionless,  her  hands  clasped  over  her 
knees,  her  eyes  lost  in  the  darkness,  languid  and  weak, 
a  little  restless  and  yet  happy,  scarcely  thinking,  not 
even  dreaming,  now  and  then  struggling  against  a 
vague  remorse,  which  she  thrust  away  from  her,  al- 
ways repeating  to  herself,    "I  love  him!  I  love  him!" 

She  went  up  to  her  apartment  at  an  early  hour, 
in  order  to  be  alone  and  to  think.  Seated  in  the 
depths  of  an  armchair  and  covered  with  a  dressing- 
gown  which  floated  around  her,  she  gazed  at  the 
stars  through  the  window,  which  was  left  open;  and 
in  the  frame  of  that  window  she  evoked  every  min- 
ute the  image  of  him  who  had  conquered  her.  She 
saw  him,  kind,  gentle,  and  powerful  —  so  strong  and 
so  yielding  in  her  presence.  This  man  had  taken 
herself  to  himself, — she  felt  it, —  taken  her  forever. 
She  was  alone  no  longer;  they  were  two,  whose  two 
hearts  would  henceforth  form  but  one  heart,  whose 
two  souls  would  henceforth  form  but  one  soul.  Where 
was  he?  She  knew  not;  but  she  knew  full  well  that 
he  was  dreaming  of   her,  just  as  she  was  thinking  of 


ICO  WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

him.  At  each  throb  of  her  heart  she  believed  she 
heard  another  throb  answering  somewhere.  She  felt 
a  desire  wandering  round  her  and  fanning  her  cheek 
Hke  a  bird's  wing.  She  felt  it  entering  through  that 
open  window,  this  desire  coming  from  him,  this  burn- 
ing desire,  which  entreated  her  in  the  silence  of  the 
night. 

How  good  it  was,  how  sweet  and  refreshing  to 
be  loved!  What  joy  to  think  of  some  one,  with  a 
longing  in  your  eyes  to  weep,  to  weep  with  tender- 
ness, and  a  longing  also  to  open  your  arms,  even 
without  seeing  him,  in  order  to  invite  him  to  come, 
to  stretch  one's  arms  toward  the  image  that  presents 
itself,  toward  that  kiss  which  your  lover  casts  unceas- 
ingly from  far  or  near,  in  the  fever  of  his  waiting. 

And  she  stretched  toward  the  stars  her  two  white 
arms  in  the  sleeves  of  her  dressing-gown.  Suddenly 
she  uttered  a  cry.  A  great  black  shadow,  striding 
over  her  balcony,  had  sprung  up  into  her  window. 

She  sprang  wildly  to  her  feet!  It  was  he!  And, 
without  even  reflecting  that  somebody  might  see 
them,  she  threw  herself  upon  his  breast. 


AFTER    THE   ORIGINAL    DRAWING    BY    FFRniXANO    BAG. 


"  Sk^  ^'■hr\iiify  TL-v'/.y/r   fn   hrr   feel.      If  ■•:\i<   Up  f  " 


^i^^,>,yr^/.W/J/:y.  If  •ii:, 


CHAPTER    VIII, 


Organization 


•  HE  absence  of  Andermatt  was 
prolonged.  M,  Aubry-Pasteur 
got  the  soil  dug  up.  He  found, 
in  addition,  four  springs,  which 
supplied  the  new  Company  with 
more  than  twice  as  much  water 
as  they  required.  The  entire  dis- 
trict, driven  crazy  by  these  searches, 
by  these  discoveries,  by  the  great 
news  which  circulated  everywhere,  by 
the  prospects  of  a  brilliant  future,  be- 
came agitated  and  enthusiastic,  talked  of 
nothing  else,  and  thought  of  nothing  else. 
The  Marquis  and  Gontran  themselves  spent 
their  days  hanging  round  the  workmen,  who  were 
boring  through  the  veins  of  granite;  and  they  listened 
with  increasing  interest  to  the  explanations  and  the 
lectures  of  the  engineer  on  the  geological  character  of 
Auvergne.  And  Paul  and  Christiane  loved  one  another 
freely,  tranquilly,  in  absolute  security,  without  anyone 
suspecting  anything,  without  anyone  thinking  even  of 
spying  on  them,  for   the  attention,  the   curiosity,  and 

(•50 


I6>2  WORKS  OF  GUY  DE  MAUPASSANT 

the  zeal   of  all    around    them    were    absorbed    in   the 
future  station. 

Christiane  acted  like  a  young  girl  under  the  intox- 
ication of  a  first  love.  The  first  draught,  the  first 
kiss,  had  burned,  had  stunned  her.  She  had  swallowed 
the  second  very  quickly,  and  had  found  it  better,  and 
now  again  and  again  she  raised  the  intoxicating  cup 
to  her  lips. 

Since  the  night  when  Paul  had  broken  into  her 
apartment,  she  no  longer  took  any  heed  of  what  was 
happening  in  the  world.  For  her,  time,  events,  be- 
ings, no  longer  had  any  existence;  there  was  nothing 
else  in  life  save  one  man,  he  whom  she  loved. 
Henceforth,  her  eyes  saw  only  him,  her  mind  thought 
only  of  him,  her  hopes  were  fixed  on  him  alone. 
She  lived,  went  from  place  to  place,  ate,  dressed  her- 
self, seemed  to  listen  and  to  reply,  without  conscious- 
ness or  thought  about  what  she  was  doing.  No 
disquietude  haunted  her,  for  no  misfortune  could  have 
fallen  on  her.  She  had  become  insensible  to  every- 
thing. No  physical  pain  could  have  taken  hold  of 
her  flesh,  as  love  alone  could,  so  as  to  make  her 
shudder.  No  moral  suffering  could  have  taken  hold 
of  her  soul,  paralyzed  by  happiness.  Moreover,  he, 
loving  her  with  the  self-abandonment  which  he  dis- 
played in  all  his  attachments,  excited  the  young 
woman's  tenderness  to  distraction. 

Often,  toward  evening,  when  he  knew  that  the  Mar- 
quis and  Gontran  had  gone  to  the  springs,  he  would 
say,  "Come  and  look  at  our  heaven."  He  called  a 
cluster  of  pine-trees  growing  on  the  hillside  above 
even  the  gorges  their  heaven.  They  ascended  to  this 
spot  through  a  little  wood,  along  a  steep  path,  to  climb 


MONT    ORIOL  153 

which  took  away  Christiane's  breath.  As  their  time 
was  limited,  they  proceeded  rapidly,  and,  in  order  that 
she  might  not  be  too  much  fatigued,  he  put  his  arm 
round  her  waist  and  hfted  her  up.  Phicing  one  hand 
on  his  shoulder,  she  let  herself  be  borne  along;  and, 
from  time  to  time,  she  would  throw  herself  on  his 
neck  and  place  her  mouth  against  his  lips.  As  they 
mounted  higher,  the  air  became  keener;  and,  when 
they  reached  the  cluster  of  pine-trees,  the  odor  of  the 
balsam  refreshed  them  like  a  breath  of  the  sea. 

They  sat  down  under  the  shadowy  trees,  she  on 
a  grassy  knoll,  and  he  lower  down,  at  her  feet.  The 
wind  in  the  stems  sang  that  sweet  chant  of  the  pine- 
trees  which  is  like  a  wail  of  sorrow;  and  the  im- 
mense Limagne,  with  its  unseen  backgrounds  steeped 
in  fog,  gave  them  a  sensation  exactly  like  that  of  the 
ocean.  Yes,  the  sea  was  there  in  front  of  them, 
down  below.  They  could  have  no  doubt  of  it,  for 
they  felt  its  breath  fanning  their  faces. 

He  talked  to  her  in  the  coaxing  tone  that  one 
uses  toward  a  child. 

"Give  me  your  fingers  and  let  me  eat  them  — 
they  are  my  bonbons,  mine!" 

He  put  them  one  after  the  other  into  his  mouth,  and 
seemed  to  be  tasting  them  with  gluttonous  delight. 

"Oh!  how  nice  they  are!  —  especially  the  little 
one.  1  have  never  eaten  anything  better  than  the 
little  one." 

Then  he  threw  himself  on  his  knees,  placed  his 
elbows  on  Christiane's  lap,  and  murmured: 

"'Liane.'are  you  looking  at  me?"  He  called  her 
Liane  because  she  entwined  herself  around  him  in 
order  to  embrace  him   the    more    closely,  as    a    plant 


154  WORKS  OF  GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 

dings  around  a  tree.  "Look  at  me.  I  am  going  to 
enter  your  soul," 

And  they  exchanged  that  immovable,  persistent 
glance,  which  seems  truly  to  make  two  beings  mingle 
with  one  another! 

"We  can  only  love  thoroughly  by  thus  possessing 
one  another,"  he  said.  "All  the  other  things  of  love 
are  but  foul  pleasures." 

And,  face  to  face,  their  breaths  blending  into  one, 
they  sought  to  see  one  another's  images  in  the  depths 
of  their  eyes. 

He  murmured:  "I  love  you,  Liane.  I  see  your 
adored  heart." 

She  replied:     "I,  too,   Paul,  see  your  heart!" 

And,  indeed,  they  did  see  one  another  even  to  the 
depths  of  their  hearts  and  souls,  for  there  was  no 
longer  in  their  hearts  and  souls  anything  but  a  mad 
transport  of  love  for  one  another. 

He  said:  "Liane,  your  eye  is  like  the  sky.  It  is 
blue,  with  so  many  reflections,  with  so  much  clearness. 
It  seems  to  me  that  I  see  swallows  passing  through 
them — these,  no  doubt,  must  be  your  thoughts." 

And  when  they  had  thus  contemplated  one  another 
for  a  long,  long  time,  they  drew  nearer  still  to  one 
another,  and  embraced  softly  with  little  jerks,  gazing 
once  more  into  each  other's  eyes  between  each  kiss. 
Sometimes  he  would  take  her  in  his  arms,  and  carry 
her,  while  he  ran  along  the  stream,  which  glided  to- 
ward the  gorges  of  Enval,  before  dashing  itself  into 
them.  It  was  a  narrow  glen,  where  meadows  and 
woods  alternated.  Paul  rushed  over  the  grass,  and 
now  and  then  he  would  raise  her  up  high  with  his 
powerful    wrists,    and    exclaim:     "Liane,    let    us    fly 


MONT    ORIOL 


155 


away."  And  with  this  yearning  to  fly  away,  love, 
their  impassioned  love,  filled  them,  harassing,  inces- 
sant, sorrowful.  And  everything  around  them  whetted 
this  desire  of  their  souls,  the  light  atmosphere  —  a 
bird's  atmosphere,  he  said  —  and  the  vast  blue  horizon, 
in  which  they  both  would  fain  have  taken  wing, 
holding  each  other  by  the  hand,  so  as  to  disappear 
above  the  boundless  plain  when  the  night  spread  its 
shadows  across  it.  They  would  have  flown  thus 
across  the  hazy  evening  sky,  never  to  return.  Where 
would  they  have  gone.^  They  knew  not;  but  what 
a  glorious  dream!  When  he  had  got  out  of  breath 
from  running  while  carrying  her  in  this  way,  he 
placed  her  sitting  on  a  rock  in  order  to  kneel  down 
before  her;  and,  kissing  her  ankles,  he  adored  her, 
murmuring  infantile  and  tender  words. 

Had  they  been  lovers  in  a  city,  their  passion,  no 
doubt,  would  have  been  different,  more  prudent, 
more  sensual,  less  ethereal,  and  less  romantic.  But 
there,  in  that  green  country,  whose  horizon  widened 
the  flights  of  the  soul,  alone,  without  anything  to 
distract  them,  to  attenuate  their  instinct  of  awakened 
love,  they  had  suddenly  plunged  into  a  passionately 
poetic  attachment  made  up  of  ecstasy  and  frenzy. 
The  surrounding  scenery,  the  balmy  air,  the  woods, 
the  sweet  perfume  of  the  fields,  played  for  them  all 
day  and  all  night  the  music  of  their  love  —  music 
which  excited  them  even  to  madness,  as  the  sound 
of  tambourines  and  of  shrill  flutes  drives  to  acts  of 
savage  unreason  the  dervish  who  whirls  round  with 
fixed  intent. 

One   evening,  as   they  were  returning  to  the  hotel 
for    dinner,    the    Marquis    said    to     them,    suddenly: 


156 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


"Andermatt  is  coming  back  in  four  days.  Matters 
are  all  arranged.  We  are  to  leave  the  day  after  his 
return.  We  have  been  here  a  long  time.  We  must 
not  prolong  mineral  water  seasons  too  much." 

They  were  as  much  taken  by  surprise  as  if  they 
had  heard  the  end  of  the  world  announced,  and 
during  the  meal  neither  of  them  uttered  a  word,  so 
much  were  they  thinking  with  astonishment  of  what 
was  about  to  happen.  So  then  they  would,  in  a 
few  days,  be  separated  and  would  no  longer  be  able 
to  see  one  another  freely.  That  appeared  so  impos- 
sible and  so  extraordinary  to  them  that  they  could 
not  realize  it. 

Andermatt  did,  in  fact,  come  back  at  the  end  of 
the  week.  He  had  telegraphed  in  order  that  two 
landaus  might  be  sent  on  to  him  to  meet  the  first 
train. 

Christiane,  who  had  not  slept,  tormented  as  she 
was  by  a  strange  and  new  emotion,  a  sort  of  fear  of 
her  husband,  a  fear  mingled  with  anger,  with  inex- 
plicable contempt,  and  a  desire  to  set  him  at  defiance, 
had  risen  at  daybreak,  and  was  awaiting  him.  He 
appeared  in  the  first  carriage,  accompanied  by  three 
gentlemen  well  attired  but  modest  in  demeanor.  The 
second  landau  contained  four  others,  who  seemed 
persons  of  rank  somewhat  inferior  to  the  first.  The 
Marquis  and  Gontran  were  astonished.  The  latter 
asked:  "Who  are  these  people?" 

Andermatt  replied:  "My  shareholders.  We  are 
going  to  establish  the  Company  this  very  day,  and  to 
nominate  the  board  of  directors  immediately." 

He  embraced  his  wife  without  speaking  to  her,  and 
almost    without   looking    at  her,  so    preoccupied  was 


MONTORIOL  ie.j 

he;    and,  turning  toward   the    seven    gentlemen,  who 
were  standing  behind  him,  silent  and  respectful: 

"Go  and  have  breakfast,  and  take  a  walk,"  said 
he,     "We'll  meet  again  here  at  twelve  o'clock." 

They  went  off  without  saying  anything,  like  sol- 
diers obeying  orders,  and  mounting  the  steps  of  the 
hotel  one  after  another,  they  went  in.  Gontran,  who 
had  been  watching  them  as  they  disappeared  from 
view,  asked  in  a  very  serious  tone: 

"Where  did  you  find  them,  these  'supers'  of 
yours  ?" 

The  banker  smiled:  "They  are  very  well-to-do 
men,  moneyed  men,  capitalists." 

And,  after  a  pause,  he  added,  with  a  more  signif- 
icant smile:  "They  busy  themselves  about  my  af- 
fairs." 

Then  he  repaired  to  the  notary's  office  to  read 
over  again  the  documents,  of  which  he  had  sent  the 
originals,  all  prepared,  some  days  before.  There  he 
found  Doctor  Latonne,  with  whom,  moreover,  he  had 
been  in  correspondence,  and  they  chatted  for  a  long 
time  in  low  tones,  in  a  corner  of  the  office,  while 
the  clerks'  pens  ran  along  the  paper,  with  the  buzzing 
noise  of  insects. 

The  meeting  to  establish  the  Company  was  fixed 
for  two  o'clock.  The  notary's  study  had  been  fitted 
up  as  if  for  a  concert.  Two  rows  of  chairs  were 
placed  for  the  shareholders  in  front  of  the  table, 
where  Maitre  Alain  was  to  take  his  seat  beside  his 
principal  clerk.  Maitre  Alain  had  put  on  his  olfcial 
garment  in  consideration  of  the  importance  of  the 
business  in  hand.  He  was  a  very  small  man,  a  stut- 
tering ball  of  white  flesh. 


158  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Andermatt  entered  just  as  it  struck  two,  accom- 
panied by  tiie  Marquis,  his  brother-in-law,  and  Bre- 
tigny,  and  followed  by  the  seven  gentlemen,  whom 
Gontran  described  as  "supers."  He  had  the  air  of 
a  general.  Pere  Oriol  also  made  his  appearance  with 
Colosse  by  his  side.  He  seemed  uneasy,  distrustful,  as 
people  always  are  when  about  to  sign  a  document.  The 
last  to  arrive  was  Doctor  Latonne.  He  had  made  his 
peace  with  Andermatt  by  a  complete  submission  pre- 
ceded by  excuses  skillfully  turned,  and  followed  by 
an  offer  of  his  services  without  any  reserve  or  re- 
strictions. 

Thereupon,  the  banker,  feeling  that  he  had  La- 
tonne  in  his  power,  promised  him  the  post  he  longed 
for,  of  medical  inspector  of  the  new  establishment. 

When  everyone  was  in  the  room,  a  profound 
silence  reigned.  The  notary  addressed  the  meeting: 
"Gentlemen,  take  your  seats."  He  gave  utterance  to 
a  few  words  more,  which  nobody  could  hear  in  the 
confusion  caused  by  the  moving  about  of  the  chairs. 

Andermatt  lifted  up  a  chair,  and  placed  it  in  front 
of  his  army,  in  order  to  keep  his  eye  on  all  his  sup- 
porters; then,  when  he  was  seated,  he  said: 

"Messieurs,  1  need  not  enter  into  any  explanations 
with  you  as  to  the  motive  that  brings  us  together. 
We  are  going,  first  of  all,  to  establish  the  new  Com- 
pany in  which  you  have  consented  to  become  share- 
holders. It  is  my  duty,  however,  to  apprise  you  of 
a  few  details,  which  have  caused  us  a  little  embar- 
rassment. 1  have  found  it  necessary,  before  even  en- 
tering on  the  undertaking  at  all,  to  assure  myself  that 
we  could  obtain  the  required  authority  for  the  crea- 
tion of  a   new   establishment   of  public    utility.     This 


MONTORIOL  159 

assurance  I  have  got.  What  remains  to  be  done  with 
respect  to  this,  I  will  make  it  my  business  to  do.  I 
have  the  Minister's  promise.  But  another  point  de- 
mands my  attention.  We  are  going,  Messieurs,  to 
enter  on  a  struggle  with  the  old  Company  of  the 
Enval  waters.  We  shall  come  forth  victorious  in  this 
struggle,  victorious  and  enriched,  you  may  be  cer- 
tain; but,  just  as  in  the  days  of  old,  a  war  cry  was 
necessary  for  the  combatants,  we,  combatants  in  the 
modern  battle,  require  a  name  for  our  station,  a  name 
sonorous,  attractive,  well  fashioned  for  advertising 
purposes,  which  strikes  the  ear  like  the  note  of  a 
clarion,  and  penetrates  the  ear  like  a  flash  of  light- 
ning. Now,  Messieurs,  we  are  in  Enval,  and  we  can 
not  unbaptize  this  district.  One  resource  only  is  left 
to  us.  To  designate  our  establishment,  our  establish- 
ment alone,  by  a  new  appellation. 

"Here  is  what  1  propose  to  you:  If  our  bath- 
house is  to  be  at  the  foot  of  the  knoll,  of  which  M. 
Oriol,  here  present,  is  the  proprietor,  our  future  Casino 
will  be  erected  on  the  summit  of  this  same  knoll. 
We  may,  therefore,  say  that  this  knoll,  this  mountain 
—  for  it  is  a  mountain,  a  little  mountain  —  furnishes 
the  site  of  our  establishment,  inasmuch  as  we  have 
the  foot  and  the  top  of  it.  Is  it  not,  therefore,  natu- 
ral to  call  our  baths  the  Baths  of  Mont  Oriol,  and  to 
attach  to  this  station,  which  will  become  one  of  the 
most  important  in  the  entire  world,  the  name  of  the 
original  proprietor?  Render  to  Caesar  what  belongs  to 
Caesar. 

"And  observe.  Messieurs,  that  this  is  an  excellent 
vocable.  People  will  talk  of 'the  Mont  Oriol'  as  they 
talk   of  'the    Mont  Dore.'     It  fixes  itself  on   the   eye 


l6o  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

and  in  the  ear;  we  can  see  it  well;  we  can  hear  it 
well;  it  abides  in  us  —  Mont  Oriol!  —  Mont  Oriol!  — 
The  baths  of  Mont  Oriol!" 

And  Andermatt  made  this  word  ring,  flung  it  out 
like  a  ball,  listening  to  the  echo  of  it.  He  went  on, 
repeating  imaginary  dialogues:  "'You  are  going  to 
the  baths  of  Mont  Oriol  ? ' 

"'Yes,  Madame.  People  say  they  are  perfect, 
these  waters  of  Mont  Oriol.' 

"'Excellent,  indeed.  Besides,  Mont  Oriol  is  a  de- 
lightful district.'" 

And  he  smiled,  assumed  the  air  of  people  chatting 
to  one  another,  altered  his  voice  to  indicate  when  the 
lady  was  speaking,  saluted  with  the  hand  when  rep- 
resenting the  gentleman. 

Then  he  resumed,  in  his  natural  voice:  "Has 
anyone  an  objection  to  offer?" 

The  shareholders  answered  in  chorus:  "No, 
none." 

All  the  "supers"  applauded.  Pere  Oriol,  moved, 
flattered,  conquered,  overcome  by  the  deep-rooted 
pride  of  an  upstart  peasant,  began  to  smile  while  he 
twisted  his  hat  about  between  his  hands,  and  he 
made  a  sign  of  assent  with  his  head  in  spite  of  him, 
a  movement  which  revealed  his  satisfaction,  and  which 
Andermatt  observed  without  pretending  to  see  it. 
Colosse  remained  impassive,  but  was  quite  as  much 
satisfied  as  his  father. 

Then  Andermatt  said  to  the  notary:  "Kindly 
read  the  instrument  whereby  the  Company  is  incor- 
porated,  Maitre  Alain." 

And  he  resumed  his  seat.  The  notary  said  to  his 
clerk:     "Go  on,   Marinet." 


MONT    ORIOL  l6l 

Marinet,  a  wretched  consumptive  creature,  coughed, 
and  with  the  intonations  of  a  preacher,  and  an  at- 
tempt at  declamation,  began  to  enumerate  the  statutes 
relating  to  the  incorporation  of  an  anonymous  Com- 
pany, called  the  Company  of  the  Thermal  Establish- 
ment of  Mont  Oriol  at  Enval  with  a  capital  of  two 
millions. 

Pere  Oriol  interrupted  him:  "A  moment,  a  mo- 
ment," said  he.  And  he  drew  forth  from  his  pocket 
a  few  sheets  of  greasy  paper,  which  during  the  past 
eight  days  had  passed  through  the  hands  of  all  the 
notaries  and  all  the  men  of  business  of  the  depart- 
ment. It  was  a  copy  of  the  statutes  which  his  son 
and  himself  by  this  time  were  beginning  to  know  by 
heart.  Then,  he  slowly  fixed  his  spectacles  on  his 
nose,  raised  up  his  head,  looked  out  for  the  exact 
point  where  he  could  easily  distinguish  the  letters, 
and  said  in  a  tone  of  command: 

"Go  on  from  that  place,  Marinet." 

Colosse,  having  got  close  to  his  chair,  also  kept 
his  eye  on  the  paper  along  with  his  father. 

And  Marinet  commenced  over  again.  Then  old 
Oriol,  bewildered  by  the  double  task  of  listening  and 
reading  at  the  same  time,  tortured  by  the  apprehen- 
sion of  a  word  being  changed,  beset  also  by  the  de- 
sire to  see  whether  Andermatt  was  making  some  sign 
to  the  notary,  did  not  allow  a  single  line  to  be  got 
through  without  stopping  ten  times  the  clerk  whose 
elocutionary  efforts  he  interrupted. 

He  kept  repeating:  "What  did  you  say.?  What  did 
you  say  there?     I  didn't  understand  —  not  so  quick!" 

Then  turning  aside  a  little  toward  his  son:  "What 
place  is  he  at,  Coloche?" 

8    G.  deM.— II 


l62  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Coloche,  more  self-controlled,  replied:  "It's  all 
right,  father  —  let  him  go  on  —  it's  all  right." 

The  peasant  was  still  distrustful.  With  the  end  of 
his  crooked  finger  he  went  on  tracing  on  the  paper  the 
words  as  they  were  read  out,  muttering  them  be- 
tween his  lips;  but  he  could  not  fix  his  attention  at 
the  same  time  on  both  matters.  When  he  listened, 
he  did  not  read,  and  he  did  not  hear  when  he  was 
reading.  And  he  puffed  as  if  he  had  been  climbing 
a  mountain;  he  perspired  as  if  he  had  been  digging 
his  vine-fields  under  a  midday  sun,  and  from  time  to 
time,  he  asked  for  a  few  minutes'  rest  to  wipe  his 
forehead  and  to  take  breath,  like  a  man  fighting  a 
duel. 

Andermatt,  losing  patience,  stamped  with  his  foot 
on  the  ground.  Gontran,  having  noticed  on  a  table 
the  "Moniteur  du  Puy-de-Dome,"  had  taken  it  up 
and  was  running  his  eye  over  it,  and  Paul,  astride  on 
his  chair,  with  downcast  eyes  and  an  anxious  heart, 
was  reflecting  that  this  little  man,  rosy  and  corpulent, 
sitting  in  front  of  him,  was  going  to  carry  off,  next 
day,  the  woman  whom  he  loved  with  all  his  soul, 
Christiane,  his  Christiane,  his  fair  Christiane,  who 
was  his,  his  entirely,  nothing  to  anyone  save  him. 
And  he  asked  himself  whether  he  was  not  going  to 
carry  her  off  this  very  evening. 

The  seven  gentlemen  remained  serious  and  tran- 
quil. 

At  the  end  of  an  hour,  it  was  finished.  The  deed 
was  signed.  The  notary  made  out  certificates  for  the 
payments  on  the  shares.  On  being  appealed  to,  the 
cashier,  M.  Abraham  Levy,  declared  that  he  had  re- 
ceived   the    necessary   deposits.     Then   the   company. 


MONT    ORIOL 


163 


from  that  moment  legally  constituted,  was  announced 
to  be  gathered  together  in  general  assembly,  all  the 
shareholders  being  in  attendance,  for  the  appointment 
of  a  board  of  directors  and  the  election  of  their 
chairman. 

All  the  votes  with  the  exception  of  two,  were  re- 
corded in  favor  of  Andermatt's  election  to  the  post  of 
chairman.  The  two  dissentients  —  the  old  peasant 
and  his  son  —  had  nominated  Oriol.  Bretigny  was 
appointed  commissioner  of  superintendence.  Then, 
the  Board,  consisting  of  MM.  Andermatt,  the  Mar- 
quis and  the  Count  de  Ravenel,  Bretigny,  the  Oriols, 
father  and  son.  Doctor  Latonne,  Abraham  Levy,  and 
Simon  Zidler,  begged  of  the  remaining  shareholders 
to  withdraw,  as  well  as  the  notary  and  his  clerk,  in 
order  that  they,  as  the  governing  body,  might  deter- 
mine on  the  first  resolutions,  and  settle  the  most 
important  points. 

Andermatt  rose  up  again:  "Messieurs,  we  are  en- 
tering on  the  vital  question,  that  of  success,  which 
we  must  win  at  any  cost. 

"It  is  with  mineral  waters  as  with  everything.  It 
is  necessary  to  get  them  talked  about  a  great  deal, 
and  continually,  so  that  invalids  may  drink  them. 

"The  great  modern  question,  Messieurs,  is  that  of 
advertising.  It  is  the  god  of  commerce  and  of  con- 
temporary industry.  Without  advertising  there  is  no 
security.  The  art  of  advertising,  moreover,  is  diffi- 
cult, complicated,  and  demands  a  considerable  amount 
of  tact.  The  first  persons  who  resorted  to  this  new 
expedient  employed  it  rudely,  attracting  attention  by 
noise,  by  beating  the  big  drum,  and  letting  off  cannon- 
shots.      Mangin,    Messieurs,    was   only    a    forerunner. 


164  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

To-day,  clamor  is  regarded  with  suspicion,  showy 
placards  cause  a  smile,  the  crying  out  of  names  in 
the  streets  awakens  distrust  rather  than  curiosity. 
And  yet  it  is  necessary  to  attract  public  attention, 
and  after  having  fixed  it,  it  is  necessary  to  produce 
conviction.  The  art,  therefore,  consists  in  discovering 
the  means,  the  only  means  which  can  succeed,  hav- 
ing in  our  possession  something  that  we  desire  to 
sell.  We,  Messieurs,  for  our  part,  desire  to  sell 
water.  It  is  by  the  physicians  that  we  are  to  get 
the  better  of  the  invalids. 

"The  most  celebrated  physicians.  Messieurs,  are 
men  like  ourselves  —  who  have  weaknesses  like  us.  I 
do  not  mean  to  convey  that  we  can  corrupt  them. 
The  reputation  of  the  illustrious  masters,  whose  as- 
sistance we  require,  places  them  above  all  suspicion 
of  venality.  But  what  man  is  there  that  cannot  be 
won  over  by  going  properly  to  work  with  him? 
There  are  also  women  who  cannot  be  purchased. 
These  it  is  necessary  to  fascinate. 

"Here,  then.  Messieurs,  is  the  proposition  which 
I  am  going  to  make  to  you,  after  having  discussed  it 
at  great  length  with  Doctor  Latonne: 

"We  have,  in  the  first  place,  classified  in  three 
leading  groups  the  maladies  submitted  for  our  treat- 
ment. These  are,  first,  rheumatism  in  all  its  forms, 
skin-disease,  arthritis,  gout,  and  so  forth;  secondly, 
affections  of  the  stomach,  of  the  intestines  and  of  the 
liver;  thirdly,  all  the  disorders  arising  from  disturbed 
circulation,  for  it  is  indisputable  that  our  acidulated 
baths  have  an  admirable  effect  on  the  circulation. 

"Moreover,  Messieurs,  the  marvelous  cure  of  Pere 
Clovis  promises  us    miracles.     Accordingly,  when  we 


MONTORIOL  165 

have  to  deal  with  maladies  which  these  waters  are 
calcuhited  to  cure,  we  are  about  to  make  to  the 
principal  physicians  who  attend  patients  for  such  dis- 
eases the  following  proposition:  'Messieurs,'  we  shall 
say  to  them,  '  come  and  see,  come  and  see  with  your 
own  eyes;  follow  your  patients;  we  offer  you  hos- 
pitality. The  country  is  magnificent;  you  require  a 
rest  after  your  severe  labors  during  the  winter  — 
come!  And  come  not  to  our  houses,  worthy  profess- 
ors, but  to  your  own,  for  we  offer  you  a  cottage, 
which  will  belong  to  you,  if  you  choose,  on  excep- 
tional conditions.' " 

Andermatt  took  breath,  and   went    on    in    a    more 
subdued  tone: 

"Here  is  how  I  have  tried  to  work  out  this  idea. 
We  have  selected  six  lots  of  land  of  a  thousand 
meters  each.  On  each  of  these  six  lots,  the  Bernese 
'Chalets  Mobiles'  Company  undertakes  to  fix  one  of 
their  model  buildings.  We  shall  place  gratuitously 
these  dwellings,  as  elegant  as  they  are  comfortable,  at 
the  disposal  of  our  physicians.  If  they  are  pleased 
with  them,  they  need  only  buy  the  houses  from 
the  Bernese  Company;  as  for  the  grounds,  we  shall 
assign  them  to  the  physicians,  who  are  to  pay  us 
back  —  in  invalids.  Therefore,  Messieurs,  we  obtain 
these  multiplied  advantages  of  covering  our  property 
with  charming  villas  which  cost  us  nothing,  of  at- 
tracting thither  the  leading  physicians  of  the  world 
and  their  legion  of  clients,  and  above  all  of  con- 
vincing the  eminent  doctors  who  will  very  rapidly 
become  proprietors  in  the  district  of  the  efficacy  of 
our  waters.  As  to  all  the  negotiations  necessary  to 
bring  about   these  results   I   take   them   upon   myself, 


l66  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Messieurs;  and  I  will  do  so,  not  as  a  speculator  but 
as  a  man  of  the  world." 

Pere  Oriol  interrupted  him.  The  parsimony  which 
he  shared  with  the  peasantry  of  Auvergne  made  him 
object  to  this  gratuitous  assignment  of  land. 

Andermatt  was  inspired  with  a  burst  of  eloquence. 
He  compared  the  agriculturist  on  a  large  scale  who 
casts  his  seed  in  handfuls  into  the  teeming  soil  with 
the  rapacious  peasant  who  counts  the  grains  and 
never  gets  more  than  half  a  harvest. 

Then,  as  Oriol,  annoyed  by  this  language,  per- 
sisted in  his  objections,  the  banker  made  his  board 
divide,  and  shut  the  old  man's  mouth  with  six  votes 
against   two. 

He  next  opened  a  large  morocco  portfolio  and 
took  out  of  it  plans  of  the  new  establishment — the 
hotel  and  the  Casino  —  as  well  as  the  estimates,  and 
the  most  economical  methods  of  procuring  materials, 
which  had  been  all  prepared  by  the  contractors,  so 
that  they  might  be  approved  of  and  signed  before 
the  end  of  the  meeting.  The  works  should  be  com- 
menced by  the  beginning  of  the  week  after  next. 

The  two  Oriols  alone  wanted  to  investigate  and 
discuss  matters.  But  Andermatt,  becoming  irritated, 
said  to  them:  "Did  I  ask  you  for  money?  No! 
Then  give  me  peace!  And,  if  you  are  not  satisfied, 
we'll  take  another  division  on  it." 

Thereupon,  they  signed  along  with  the  remain- 
ing members  of  the  Board;  and  the  meeting  termi- 
nated. 

All  the  inhabitants  of  the  place  were  waiting  to 
see  them  going  out,  so  intense  was  the  excitement. 
The  people  bowed  respectfully  to  them.     As  the  two 


MONTORIOL  167 

peasants  were  about  to  return  home,  Andermatt    sa  d 
to  them: 

"Do  not  forget  that  we  are  all  dining  together  at 
the  hotel.  And  bring  your  girls;  1  have  brought  them 
presents  from  Paris." 

They  were  to  meet  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  draw- 
ing-room of  the  Hotel  Splendid. 

It  was  a  magnificent  dinner  to  which  the  banker 
had  invited  the  principal  bathers  and  the  authorities  of 
the  village.  Christiane,  who  was  the  hostess,  had 
the  cure  at  her  right,  and  the  mayor  at  her  left. 

The  conversation  was  all  about  the  future  estab- 
lishment and  the  prospects  of  the  district.  The  two 
Oriol  girls  had  found  under  their  napkins  two  caskets 
containing  two  bracelets  of  pearls  and  emeralds,  and 
wild  with  delight,  they  talked  as  they  had  never 
done  before,with  Gontran  sitting  between  them.  The 
elder  girl  herself  laughed  with  all  her  heart  at  the 
jokes  of  the  young  man,  who  became  animated, 
while  he  talked  to  them,  and  in  his  own  mind 
formed  about  them  those  masculine  judgments,  those 
judgments  daring  and  secret,  which  are  generated 
in  the  flesh  and  in  the  mind,  at  the  sight  of  every 
pretty  woman. 

Paul  did  not  eat,  and  did  not  open  his  lips.  It 
seemed  to  him  that  his  life  was  going  to  end  to- 
night. Suddenly  he  remembered  that  just  a  month 
had  glided  away,  day  by  day,  since  the  open-air 
dinner  by  the  lake  of  Tazenat.  He  had  in  his  soul 
that  vague  sense  of  pain  caused  rather  by  presenti- 
ments than  by  grief,  known  to  lovers  alone,  that 
sense  of  pain  which  makes  the  heart  so  heavy,  the 
nerves  so  vibrating  that  the  slightest   noise  makes  us 


l68  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

pant,  and  the  mind  so  wretchedly  sad  that  everything 
we  hear  assumes  a  somber  hue  so  as  to  correspond 
with  the  fixed  idea. 

As  soon  as  they  had  quitted  the  table,  he  went  to 
join  Christiane  in  the  drawing-room. 

"1  must  see  you  this  evening,"  he  said,  "pres- 
ently, immediately,  since  I  no  longer  can  tell  when 
we  may  be  able  to  meet.  Are  you  aware  that  it  is 
just  a  month  to-day  ? " 

She  replied:    "I  know  it." 

He  went  on:  "Listen!  1  am  going  to  wait  for 
you  on  the  road  to  La  Roche  Pradiere,  in  front  of  the 
village,  close  to  the  chestnut-trees.  Nobody  will 
notice  your  absence  at  the  time.  Come  quickly  in 
order  to  bid  me  adieu,  since  to-morrow  we  part." 

She  murmured:  "I'll  be  there  in  a  quarter  of  an 
hour." 

And  he  went  out  to  avoid  being  in  the  midst  of 
this  crowd  which  exasperated  him. 

He  took  the  path  through  the  vineyards  which 
they  had  followed  one  day  —  the  day  when  they  had 
gazed  together  at  the  Limagne  for  the  first  time.  And 
soon  he  was  on  the  highroad.  He  was  alone,  and 
he  felt  alone,  alone  in  the  world.  The  immense,  in- 
visible plain  increased  still  more  this  sense  of  isola- 
tion. He  stopped  in  the  very  spot  where  they  had 
seated  themselves  on  the  occasion  when  he  recited 
Baudelaire's  lines  on  Beauty.  How  far  away  it  was 
already!  And,  hour  by  hour,  he  retraced  in  his  mem- 
ory all  that  had  since  taken  place.  Never  had  he 
been  so  happy,  never!  Never  had  he  loved  so  dis- 
tractedly, and  at  the  same  time  so  chastely,  so  de- 
votedly.    And  he  recalled  that  evening  by  the  "gour" 


MONTORIOL  169 

of  Tazenat,  only  a  month  from  to-day  —  the  cool 
wood  mellowed  with  a  pale  luster,  the  little  lake  of 
silver,  and  the  big  fishes  that  skimmed  along  its  sur- 
face; and  their  return,  when  he  saw  her  walking  in 
front  of  him  with  light  and  shadow  falling  on  her  in 
turn,  the  moon's  rays  playing  on  her  hair,  on  her 
shoulders,  and  on  her  arms  through  the  leaves  of  the 
trees.  These  were  the  sweetest  hours  he  had  tasted 
in  his  life.  He  turned  round  to  ascertain  whether  she 
might  not  have  arrived.  He  did  not  see  her,  but  he 
perceived  the  moon,  which  appeared  at  the  horizon. 
The  same  moon  which  had  risen  for  his  first  declara- 
tion of  love  had  risen  now  for  his  first  adieu. 

A  shiver  ran  through  his  body,  an  icy  shiver.  The 
autumn  had  come  —  the  autumn  that  precedes  the 
winter.  He  had  not  till  now  felt  this  first  touch  of 
cold,  which  pierced  his  frame  suddenly  like  a  menace 
of  misfortune. 

The  white  road,  full  of  dust,  stretched  in  front  of 
Tiim,  like  a  river  between  its  banks.  A  form  at  that 
moment  rose  up  at  the  turn  of  the  road.  He  recog- 
nized her  at  once;  and  he  waited  for  her  without 
flinching,  trembling  with  the  mysterious  bliss  of  feel- 
ing her  drawing  near,  of  seeing  her  coming  toward 
him,  for  him. 

She  walked  with  lingering  steps,  without  ventur- 
ing to  call  out  to  him,  uneasy  at  not  finding  him  yet, 
for  he  remained  concealed  under  a  tree,  and  disturbed 
by  the  deep  silence,  by  the  clear  solitude  of  the  earth 
and  sky.  And,  before  her,  her  shadow  advanced, 
black  and  gigantic,  some  distance  away  from  her, 
appearing  to  carry  toward  him  something  of  her,  be- 
fore herself. 


170  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Christiane  stopped,  and  the  shadow  remained  also 
motionless,  lying  down,  fallen  on  the  road. 

Paul  quickly  took  a  few  steps  forward  as  far  as 
the  place  where  the  form  of  the  head  rounded  itself 
on  her  path.  Then,  as  if  he  wanted  to  lose  no  por- 
tion of  her,  he  sank  on  his  knees,  and  prostrating 
himself,  placed  his  mouth  on  the  edge  of  the  dark 
silhouette.  Just  as  a  thirsty  dog  drinks  crawling  on 
his  belly  in  a  spring  he  began  to  kiss  the  dust  pas- 
sionately, following  the  outlines  of  the  beloved  shadow. 
In  this  way,  he  moved  toward  her  on  his  hands  and 
knees,  covering  with  caresses  the  lines  of  her  body,  as 
if  to  gather  up  with  his  lips  the  obscure  image,  dear 
because  it  was  hers,  that  lay  spread  along  the  ground. 
She,  surprised,  a  little  frightened  even,  waited  till 
he  was  at  her  feet  before  she  had  the  courage  to  speak 
to  him;  then,  when  he  had  lifted  up  his  head,  still 
remaining  on  his  knees,  but  now  straining  her  with 
both  arms,  she  asked: 

"What  is  the  matter  with  you,  to-night?" 
He  replied:     "  Liane,  1  am  going  to  lose  you." 
She  thrust   all    her  fingers   into    the    thick   hair    of 
her   lover,  and,    bending    down,  held    back    his    fore- 
head in  order  to  kiss  his  eyes. 

"Why  lose  me?"  said  she,   smiling,   full  of  confi- 
dence. 

"Because  we  are  going  to  separate  to-morrow." 
"We   separate?     For  a  very  short   time,  darling." 
"One    never    knows.     We    shall    not    again    find 
days  like  those  that  we  passed  here." 

"We  shall  have  others  which  will  be   as   lovely." 

She  raised  him  up,  drew  him  under  the  tree,  where 

he  had  been  awaiting  her,   made  him  sit  down    close 


MONT    ORIOL 


171 


to  her,  but  lower  down,  so  that  she  might  have  her 
hand  constantly  in  his  hair;  and  she  talked  in  a  seri- 
ous strain,  like  a  thoughtful,  ardent,  and  resolute 
woman,  who  loves,  who  has  already  provided  against 
everything,  who  instinctively  knows  what  must  be 
done,  who  has  made  up  her  mind  for  everything. 

"Listen,  my  darling,  1  am  very  free  at  Paris. 
William  never  bothers  himself  about  me.  His  busi- 
ness concerns  are  enough  for  him.  Therefore,  as 
you  are  not  married,  I  will  go  to  see  you.  1  will  go 
to  see  you  every  day,  sometimes  in  the  morning  be- 
fore breakfast,  sometimes  in  the  evening,  on  ac- 
count of  the  servants,  who  might  chatter  if  1  went 
out  at  the  same  hour.  We  can  meet  as  often  as 
here,  even  more  than  here,  for  we  shall  not  have  to 
fear  inquisitive  persons." 

But  he  repeated  with  his  head  on  her  knees,  and 
her  waist  tightly  clasped:  "Liane,  Liane,  1  am  going 
to  lose  you!" 

She  became  impatient  at  this  unreasonable  grief, 
at  this  childish  grief  in  this  vigorous  frame,  while  she, 
so  fragile  compared  with  him,  was  yet  so  sure  of 
herself,  so  sure  that  nothing  could  part  them. 

He  murmured:  "If  you  wished  it,  Liane,  we 
might  fly  off  together,  we  might  go  far  away,  into  a 
beautiful  country  full  of  flowers  where  we  could  love 
one  another.  Say,  do  you  wish  that  we  should  go 
off  together  this  evening  —  are  you  willing?" 

But  she  shrugged  her  shoulders,  a  little  nervous,  a 
little  dissatisfied,  at  his  not  having  listened  to  her,  for 
this  was  not  the  time  for  dreams  and  soft  puerilities. 
It  was  necessary  now  for  them  to  show  themselves 
energetic    and    prudent,    and    to    find    out    a    way    in 


1^2'  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

which  they  could  continue  to  love  one  another  with- 
out rousing  suspicion. 

She  said  in  reply:  "Listen,  darling!  we  must 
thoroughly  understand  our  position,  and  commit  no 
mistakes  or  imprudences.  First  of  all,  are  you  sure 
about  your  servants  ?  The  thing  to  be  most  feared  is 
lest  some  one  should  give  information  or  write  an 
anonymous  letter  to  my  husband.  Of  his  own  ac- 
cord, he  will  guess   nothing.     I  know  William  well." 

This  name,  twice  repeated,  all  at  once  had  an  ir- 
ritating effecJLon  Paul's  nerves.  He  said:  "Oh! 
don't  speak  tomne  about  him  this  evening." 

She  was  astonished:  "Why?  It  is  quite  neces- 
sary, however.  Oh!  I  assure  you  that  he  has  scarcely 
anything  to  do  with  me." 

She  had  divined  his  thoughts.  An  obscure  jeal- 
ousy, as  yet  unconscious,  was  awakened  within  him. 
And  suddenly,  sinking  on  his  knees  and  seizing  her 
hands: 

"Listen,  Liane!     What    terms    are    you    on    with 

him?" 

"Why  —  why  —  very   good!" 

"Yes,  I  know.  But  listen  —  understand  me  clearly. 
He  is  —  he  is  your  husband,  in  fact  —  and  —  and  —  you 
don't  know  how  much  1  have  been  brooding  over 
this  for  some  time  past  —  how  much  it  torments,  tor- 
tures me.     You  know  what  1  mean.     Tell  me!" 

She  hesitated  a  few  seconds,  then  in  a  flash  she 
realized  his  entire  meaning,  and  with  an  outburst  of 
indignant  candor: 

"Oh!  my  darling!  —  can  you  —  can  you  think  such 
a  thing?  Oh!  I  am  yours  —  do  you  understand?  — 
yours  alone  —  since  I  love  you  —  oh!  Paul!" 


MONT    ORIOL 


173 


He  let  his  head  sink  on  the  young  woman's  lap, 
and  in  a  very  soft  voices,  said: 

"But!  —  after  all,  Liane,  you  know  he  is  your 
husband.  What  will  you  do?  Have  you  thought  of 
that?  Tell  me!  What  will  you  do  this  evening  or 
to-morrow?  For  you  cannot  —  always,  always  say 
'No'  to  him!" 

She  murmured,  speaking  also  in  a  very  low  tone: 
"I  have  pretended  to  be  enceinte,  and  —  and  that  is 
enough  for  him.  Oh!  there  is  scarcely  anything  be- 
tween us —  Come!  say  no  more  about  this,  my 
darling.  You  don't  know  how  this  wounds  me. 
Trust  me,  since  I  love  you!" 

He  did  not  move,  breathing  hard  and  kissing  her 
dress,  while  she  caressed  his  face  with  her  amorous, 
dainty  fingers. 

But,  all  of  a  sudden,  she  said:  "We  must  go 
back,  for  they  will  notice  that  we   are   both   absent." 

They  embraced  each  other,  clinging  for  a  long 
time  to  one  another  in  a  clasp  that  might  well  have 
crushed  their  bones. 

Then  she  rushed  away  so  as  to  be  back  first  and 
to  enter  the  hotel  quickly,  while  he  watched  her  de- 
parting and  vanishing  from  his  sight,  oppressed  with 
sadness,  as  if  all  his  happiness  and  all  his  hopes  had 
taken  flight  along  with   her. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

The  Spa  Again 

^HE   station   of  Enval   could  hardly  be 
recognized   on   the   first    of  July   of 
the  following  year.     On  the  summit 
of   the    knoll,    standing    between     the 
two     outlets     of    the    valley,     rose     a 
buiiding  in  the  Moorish  style  of  archi- 
tecture, bearing   on   its  front  the  word 
'"Casino"  in  letters  of  gold. 

A    little  wood    had   been  utilized  for 

the  purpose  of  creating  a  small  park  on 

the     slope     facing    the     Limagne.      Lower 

%    down,   among   the   vines,  six    chalets    here    and 

*^    there   showed   their  facades   of  polished    wood. 

^   On    the    slope    facing    the    south,    an    immense 

/     structure  was  visible   at   a   distance  to  travelers, 

who  perceived  it  on  their  way  from  Riom. 

This  was  the  Grand  Hotel  of  Mont  Oriol.  And 
exactly  below  it,  at  the  very  foot  of  the  hill,  a  square 
house,  simpler  and  more  spacious,  surrounded  by  a 
garden,  through  which  ran  the  rivulet  which  flowed 
down  from  the  gorges,  offered  to  invalids  the  miracu- 
lous cure  promised  by  a  pamphlet  of  Doctor  Latonne. 
('74) 


MONT    ORIOL 


175 


On  the  facade  could  be  read:  "Thermal  baths  of 
Mont  Oriel."  Then,  on  the  right  wing,  in  smaller 
letters :  "  Hydropathy.  — Stomach-washing. —  Piscina 
with  running  water,"  And,  on  the  left  wing: 
"Medical  institute  of  automatic  gymnastics." 

All  this  was  white,  with  a  fresh  whiteness,  shin- 
ing and  crude.  Workmen  were  still  occupied  in 
completing  it  —  house-painters,  plumbers,  and  laborers 
employed  in  digging,  although  the  establishment  had 
already  been  a  month  open. 

Its  success,  moreover,  had  since  the  start,  sur- 
passed the  hopes  of  its  founders.  Three  great  physi- 
cians, three  celebrities,  Professor  Mas-Roussel,  Professor 
Cloche,  and  Professor  Remusot,  had  taken  the  new 
station  under  their  patronage,  and  consented  to  so- 
journ for  sometime  in  the  villas  of  the  Bernese  "Chalets 
Mobiles"  Company,  placed  at  their  disposal  by  the 
Board  intrusted  with  the    management  of  the  waters. 

Under  their  influence  a  crowd  of  invalids  flocked 
to  the  place.     The  Grand  Hotel  of  Mont  Oriol  was  full. 

Although  the  baths  had  commenced  working  since 
the  first  days  of  June,  the  official  opening  of  the  sta- 
tion had  been  postponed  till  the  first  of  July,  in  order 
to  attract  a  great  number  of  people.  The  fete  was  to 
commence  at  three  o'clock  with  the  ceremony  of 
blessing  the  springs;  and  in  the  evening,  a  magnifi- 
cent performance,  followed  by  fireworks  and  a  ball, 
would  bring  together  all  the  bathers  of  the  place,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  adjoining  stations,  and  the  prin- 
cipal inhabitants  of  Clermont-Ferrand  and  Riom. 

The  Casino  on  the  summit  of  the  hill  was  hidden 
from  view  by  the  flags.  Nothing  could  be  seen  any 
longer  but  blue,  red,  white,  yellow,  a  kind  of  dense 


176 


WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


and  palpitating  cloud;  while  from  the  tops  of  the 
gigantic  masts  planted  along  the  walks  in  the  park, 
huge  oriflammes  curled  themselves  in  the  blue  sky 
with  serpentine  windings. 

M.  Petrus  Martel,  who  had  been  appointed  con- 
ductor of  this  new  Casino,  seemed  to  think  that 
under  this  cloud  of  flags  he  had  become  the  all- 
powerful  captain  of  some  fantastic  ship;  and  he  gave 
orders  to  the  white-aproned  waiters  with  the  re- 
sounding and  terrible  voice  which  admirals  need  in 
order  to  exercise  command  under  fire.  His  vibrating 
words,  borne  on  by  the  wind,  were  heard  even  in 
the  village. 

Andermatt,  out  of  breath  already,  appeared  on  the 
terrace.  Petrus  Martel  advanced  to  meet  him  and 
bowed  to  him  in  a  lordly  fashion. 

"Everything  is  going  on  well?"  inquired  the 
banker. 

"Everything  is  going  on  well,  my  dear  President." 

"If  anyone  wants  me,  1  am  to  be  found  in  the 
medical    inspector's   study.     We   have  a  meeting   this 


mornmg. 


And  he  went  down  the  hill  again.  In  front  of  the 
door  of  the  thermal  establishment,  the  overseer  and 
the  cashier,  carried  off  also  from  the  other  Company, 
which  had  become  the  rival  Company,  but  doomed 
without  a  possible  contest,  rushed  forward  to  meet 
their  master.  The  ex-jailer  made  a  military  salute. 
The  other  bent  his  head  like  a  poor  person  receiving 
alms.     Andermatt  asked: 

"Is  the  inspector  here?" 

The  overseer  replied:  "Yes,  Monsieur  le  President, 
all  the  gentlemen  have  arrived."' 


MONTORIOL  177 

The  banker  passed  through  the  vestibule,  in  the 
midst  of  bathers  and  respectful  waiters,  turned  to  the 
right,  opened  a  door,  and  found  in  a  spacious  apart- 
ment of  serious  aspect,  full  of  books  and  busts  of 
men  of  science,  all  the  members  of  the  Board  at 
present  in  Enval  assembled:  his  father-in-law  the 
Marquis,  and  his  brother-in-law  Gontran,  the  Oriols, 
father  and  son,  who  had  almost  been  transformed  into 
gentlemen  wearing  frock-coats  of  such  length  that 
—  with  their  own  tallness,  they  looked  like  adver- 
tisements for  a  mourning- warehouse  —  Paul  Bretigny, 
and  Doctor  Latonne. 

After  some  rapid  hand-shaking,  they  took  their 
seats,  and  Andcrmatt  commenced  to  address  them : 

"It  remains  for  us  to  regulate  an  important  mat- 
ter, the  naming  of  the  springs.  On  this  subject  1 
differ  entirely  in  opinion  from  the  inspector.  The 
doctor  proposes  to  give  to  our  three  principal  springs 
the  names  of  the  three  leaders  of  the  medical  profes- 
sion who  are  here.  Assuredly,  there  would  in  this 
be  a  flattery  which  might  touch  them  and  win  them 
over  to  us  still  more.  But  be  sure,  Messieurs,  that 
it  would  alienate  from  us  forever  those  among  their 
distinguished  professional  brethren  who  have  not  yet 
responded  to  our  invitation,  and  whom  we  should 
convince,  at  the  cost  of  our  best  efforts  and  of  every 
sacrifice,  of  the  sovereign  efficacy  of  our  waters.  Yes, 
Messieurs,  human  nature  is  unchangeable;  it  is  neces- 
sary to  know  it  and  to  make  use  of  it.  Never  would 
Professors  Plantureau,  De  Larenard,  and  Pascalis,  to 
refer  only  to  these  three  specialists  in  affections  of 
the  stomach  and  intestines,  send  their  patients  to  be 
cured   by  the   water  of  the   Mas-Roussel  Spring,    the 

8    G.  deM.  — II 


1-78  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Cloche  Spring,  or  the  Remusot  Spring.  For  these 
patients  and  the  entire  public  would  in  that  case  be 
somewhat  disposed  to  believe  that  it  was  by  Pro- 
fessors Remusot,  Cloche,  and  Mas-Roussel  that  our 
water  and  all  its  therapeutic  properties  had  been  dis- 
covered. There  is  no  doubt,  Messieurs,  that  the 
name  of  Gubler,  with  which  the  original  spring  at 
Chatel-Guyon  was  baptized,  for  a  long  time  preju- 
diced against  these  waters,  to-day  in  a  prosperous 
condition,  a  section,  at  least,  of  the  great  physicians, 
who  might  have  patronized  it  from  the  start. 

"1  accordingly  propose  to  give  quite  simply  the 
name  of  my  wife  to  the  spring  first  discovered  and 
the  names  of  the  Mademoiselles  Oriol  to  the  other 
two.  We  shall  thus  have  the  Christiane,  the  Louise, 
and  the  Charlotte  Springs.  This  suits  very  well;  it  is 
very  nice.     What  do  you  say  to  it.?" 

His  suggestion  was  adopted  even  by  Doctor  La- 
tonne,  who  added:  "We  might  then  beg  of  MM. 
Mas-Roussel,  Cloche,  and  Remusot  to  be  godfathers 
and  to  offer  their  arms  to  the  godmothers." 

"Excellent,  excellent,"  said  Andermatt.  "1  am 
hurrying  to  meet  them.  And  they  will  consent.  I 
may  answer  for  them  —  they  will  consent.  Let  us, 
therefore,  reassemble  at  three  o'clock  in  the  church 
where  the  procession  is  to  be  formed." 

And  he  went  off  at  a  running  pace.  The  Marquis 
and  Gontran  followed  him  almost  immediately.  The 
Oriols,  father  and  son,  with  tall  hats  on  their  heads, 
hastened  to  walk  in  their  turn  side  by  side,  grave 
looking  and  all  in  black,  on  the  white  road;  and 
Doctor  Latonne  said  to  Paul,  who  had  only  arrived 
the  previous  evening,  to  be  present  at  the  file: 


MONT    ORIOL 


179 


"I  have  detained  you,  Monsieur,  in  order  to  show 
yt^u  a  thing  from  which  I  expect  marvelous  results. 
It  is   my  medical  institute  of  automatic  gymnastics." 

He  took  him  by  the  arm,  and  led  him  in.  But 
they  had  scarcely  reached  the  vestibule  when  a  waiter 
at  the  baths  stopped  the  doctor: 

"  M.  Riquier  is  waiting  for  his  wash." 

Doctor  Latonne  had,  last  year,  spoken  dispara- 
gingly of  the  stomach  washings,  extolled  and  practiced 
by  Doctor  Bonnefille,  in  the  establishment  of  which 
he  was  inspector.  But  time  had  modified  his  opinion, 
and  the  Baraduc  probe  had  become  the  great  instru- 
ment of  torture  of  the  new  inspector,  who  plunged  it 
with  an  infantile  delight  into  every  gullet. 

He  inquired  of  Paul  Bretigny:  "Have  you  ever 
seen  this  little  operation?" 

The  other  replied:     "No,  never." 

"Come  on  then,  my  dear  fellow  —  it  is  very 
curious." 

They  entered  the  shower-bath  room,  where  M. 
Riquier,  the  brick-colored  man,  who  was  this  year 
trying  the  newly  discovered  springs,  as  he  had  tried, 
every  summer,  every  fresh  station,  was  waiting  in  a 
wooden  armchair. 

Like  some  executed  criminal  of  olden  times,  he 
was  squeezed  and  choked  up  in  a  kind  of  straight 
waistcoat  of  oilcloth,  which  was  intended  to  preserve 
his  clothes  from  stains  and  splashes;  and  he  had  the 
wretched,  restless,  and  pained  look  of  patients  on 
whom  a  surgeon  is  about  to  operate. 

As  soon  as  the  doctor  appeared,  the  waiter  took 
up  a  long  tube,  which  had  three  divisions  near  the 
middle,  and  which  had  the  appearance  of  a  thin  ser- 


l8o  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

pent  with  a  double  tail.  Then  the  man  fixed  one  of 
the  ends  to  the  extremity  of  a  little  cock  communi- 
cating with  the  spring.  The  second  was  let  fall  into 
a  glass  receiver,  into  which  would  be  presently  dis- 
charged the  liquids  rejected  by  the  patient's  stomach; 
and  the  medical  inspector,  seizing  with  a  steady  hand 
the  third  arm  of  this  conduit-pipe,  drew  it,  with  an 
air  of  amiability,  toward  M.  Riquier's  jaw,  passed  it 
into  his  mouth,  and  guiding  it  dexterously,  slipped  it 
into  his  throat,  driving  it  in  more  and  more  with  the 
thumb  and  index-fmger,  in  a  gracious  and  benevolent 
fashion,  repeating: 

"Very  good!  very  good!  very  good!  That  will 
do,  that  will  do;  that  will  do;  that  will  do  exactly!" 

M.  Riquier,  with  staring  eyes,  purple  cheeks,  lips 
covered  with  foam,  panted  for  breath,  gasped  as  if  ha 
were  suffocating,  and  had  agonizing  fits  of  coughing; 
and,  clutching  the  arms  of  the  chair,  he  made  terrible 
efforts  to  get  rid  of  that  beastly  india-rubber  which 
was  penetrating  into  his  body. 

When  he  had  swallowed  about  a  foot  and  a  halt 
of  it,  the  doctor  said:  "We  are  at  the  bottom. 
Turn  it  on! " 

The  attendant  thereupon  turned  on  the  cock,  and 
soon  the  patient's  stomach  became  visibly  swollen, 
having  been  filled  up  gradually  with  the  warm  water 
of  the  spring. 

"Cough,"  said  the  physician,  "cough,  in  order  to 
facilitate  the  descent." 

In  place  of  coughing,  the  poor  man  had  a  rat- 
tling in  the  throat,  and  shaken  with  convulsions,  he 
looked  as  if  his  eyes  were  going  to  jump  out  of  his 
head. 


MONT    ORIOL  l8l 

Then  suddenly  a  light  gurgling  could  be  heard  on 
the  ground  close  to  the  armchair.  The  spout  of  the 
tube  with  the  two  passages  had  at  last  begun  to 
work;  and  the  stomach  now  emptied  itself  into  this 
glass  receiver  where  the  doctor  searched  eagerly  for 
the  indications  of  catarrh  and  the  recognizable  traces 
of  imperfect  digestion. 

"You  are  not  to  eat  any  more  green  peas,"  said 
he,  "or  salad.  Oh!  no  salad!  You  cannot  digest  it 
at  all.  No  more  strawberries  either!  1  have  already 
repeated  to  you  ten  times,  no  strawberries!" 

M.  Riquier  seemed  raging  with  anger.  He  excited 
himself  now  without  being  able  to  utter  a  word  on 
account  of  this  tube,  which  stopped  up  his  throat. 
But  when,  the  washing  having  been  finished,  the 
doctor  had  delicately  drawn  out  the  probe  from  his 
interior,  he  exclaimed: 

"Is  it  my  fault  if  I  am  eating  every  day  filth  that 
ruins  my  health  ?  Isn't  it  you  that  should  watch  the 
meals  supplied  by  your  hotel-keeper?  I  have  come 
to  your  new  cook-shop  because  they  used  to  poison 
me  at  the  old  one  with  abominable  food,  and  1  am 
worse  than  ever  in  your  big  barrack  of  a  Mont  Oriol 
inn,  upon  my  honor!" 

The  doctor  had  to  appease  him,  and  promised 
over  and  over  again  to  have  the  invalids'  food  at  the 
table  d'hote  submitted  beforehand  to  his  inspection. 
Then,  he  took  Paul  Bretigny's  arm  again,  and  said  as 
he  led  him  away: 

"Here  are  the  extremely  rational  principles  on 
which  1  have  established  my  special  treatment  by  the 
self-moving  gymnastics,  which  we  are  going  to  in- 
spect.    You  know  my  system  of  organometric  medi- 


l82  WORKS  OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

cine,  don't  you  ?  I  maintain  that  a  great  portion  of 
our  maladies  entirely  proceed  from  the  excessive  de- 
velopment of  some  one  organ  which  encroaches  on  a 
neighboring  organ,  impedes  its  functions,  and,  in  a 
little  while,  destroys  the  general  harmony  of  the 
body,  whence  arise  the  most  serious  disturbances. 

"Now,  the  exercise  is,  along  with  the  shower- 
bath  and  the  thermal  treatment,  one  of  the  most  pow- 
erful means  of  restoring  the  equilibrium  and  bringing 
back  the  encroaching  parts  to  their  normal  propor- 
tions. 

"But  how  are  we  to  determine  the  man  to  make 
the  exercise  ?  There  is  not  merely  the  act  of  walk- 
ing, of  mounting  on  horseback,  of  swimming  or 
rowing  —  a  considerable  physical  effort.  There  is  also 
and  above  all  a  moral  effort.  It  is  the  mind  which 
determines,  draws  along,  and  sustains  the  body. 
The  men  of  energy  are  men  of  movement.  Now 
energy  is  in  the  soul  and  not  in  the  muscles.  The 
body  obeys  the  vigorous  will. 

"It  is  not  necessary  to  think,  my  dear  friend,  of 
giving  courage  to  the  cowardly  or  resolution  to  the 
weak.  But  we  can  do  something  else,  we  can  do 
more — we  can  suppress  mental  energy,  suppress 
moral  effort  and  leave  only  physical  subsisting.  This 
moral  effort,  I  replace  with  advantage  by  a  foreign 
and  purely  mechanical  force.  Do  you  understand  ? 
No,  not  very  well.     Let  us  go  in." 

He  opened  a  door  leading  into  a  large  apartment, 
in  which  were  ranged  fantastic  looking  instruments, 
big  armchairs  with  wooden  legs,  horses  made  of 
rough  deal,  articulated  boards,  and  movable  bars 
stretched  in  front  of  chairs  fixed  in  the  ground.     And 


MONT    ORIOL 


183 


all  these  objects  were  connected  with  compHcated 
machinery,  which  was  set  in  motion  by  turning 
handles. 

The  doctor  went  on:  "Look  here.  We  have 
four  principal  kinds  of  exercise.  These  are  walking, 
equitation,  swimming,  and  rowing.  Each  of  these 
exercises  develops  different  members,  acts  in  a  special 
fashion.  Now,  we  have  them  here — the  entire  four 
—  produced  by  artificial  means.  All  you  have  to  do 
is  to  let  yourself  act,  while  thinking  of  nothing,  and 
you  can  run,  mount  on  horseback,  swim,  or  row  for 
an  hour,  without  the  mind  taking  any  part  —  the 
slightest  part  in  the  world  —  in  this  entirely  muscular 
work." 

At  that  moment,  M.  Aubry-Pasteur  entered,  fol- 
lowed by  a  man  whose  tucked-up  sleeves  displayed 
the  vigorous  biceps  on  each  arm.  The  engineer  was 
as  fat  as  ever.  He  was  walking  with  his  legs  spread 
wide  apart  and  his  arms  held  out  from  his  body, 
while  he  panted  for  breath. 

The  doctor  said:  "You  will  understand  by  look- 
ing on  at  it  yourself," 

And  addressing  his  patient:  "Well,  my  dear  Mon- 
sieur, what  are  we  going  to  do  to-day.?  Walking  or 
equitation  ?" 

M,  Aubry-Pasteur,  who  pressed  Paul's  hand,  re- 
plied: "I  would  like  a  little  walking  seated;  that 
fatigues  me  less." 

M.  Latonne  continued:  "We  have,  in  fact,  walk- 
ing seated  and  walking  erect.  Walking  erect,  while 
more  efficacious,  is  rather  painful.  1  procure  it  by 
means  of  pedals  on  which  you  mount  and  which  set 
your  legs  in  motion  while  you  maintain  your  equilib- 


184  WORKS  OF  GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 

rium  by  clinging  to  rings    fastened   to  the  wall.     But 
here  is  an  example  of  walking  while  seated." 

The  engineer  had  fallen  back  into  a  rocking  arm- 
chair, and  he  placed  his  legs  in  the  wooden  legs 
with  movable  joints  attached  to  this  seat.  His  thighs, 
calves,  and  ankles  were  strapped  down  in  such  a 
way  that  he  was  unable  to  make  any  voluntary 
movement;  then,  the  man  with  the  tucked-up  sleeves, 
seizing  the  handle,  turned  it  round  with  all  his 
strength.  The  armchair,  at  first,  swayed  to  and  fro 
like  a  hammock;  then,  suddenly,  the  patient's  legs 
went  out,  stretching  forward  and  bending  back,  ad- 
vancing and  returning,  with  extreme  speed. 

"He  is  running,"  said  the  doctor,  who  then  gave 
the  order:     "Quietly!     Go  at  a  walking  pace." 

The  man,  turning  the  handle  more  slowly,  caused 
the  fat  engineer  to  do  the  sitting  walk  in  a  more 
moderate  fashion,  which  ludicrously  distorted  all  the 
movements  of  his  body. 

Two  other  patients  next  made  their  appearance, 
both  of  them  enormous,  and  followed  also  by  two 
attendants  with  naked  arms. 

They  were  hoisted  upon  wooden  horses,  which, 
set  in  motion,  began  immediately  to  jump  along 
the  room,  shaking  their  riders  in  an  abominable  man- 
ner. 

"Gallop!"  cried  the  doctor.  And  the  artificial 
animals,  rushing  like  waves  and  capsizing  like  ships, 
fatigued  the  two  patients  so  much  that  they  began 
to  scream  out  together  in  a  panting  and  pitiful 
tone: 

"Enough!  enough!  I  can't  stand  it  any  longer! 
Enough!" 


MONT    ORIOL  185 

The  physician  said  in  a  tone  of  command:  "Stop!" 
He  then  added:  "Take  breath  for  a  httle  while.  You 
will  go  on  again  in  five  minutes." 

Paul  Bretigny,  who  was  choking  with  suppressed 
laughter,  drew  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  riders  were 
not  warm,  while  the  handle-turners  were  perspiring. 

"If  you  inverted  the  roles,"  said  he,  "would  it 
not  be  better?" 

The  doctor  gravely  replied:  "Oh!  not  at  all,  my 
dear  friend.  We  must  not  confound  exercise  and 
fatigue.  The  movement  of  the  man  who  is  turning 
the  wheel  is  injurious,  while  the  movement  of  the 
walker  or  the  rider  is  beneficial." 

But  Paul  noticed  a  lady's  saddle. 

"Yes,"  said  the  physician;  "the  evening  is  re- 
served for  the  other  sex.  The  men  are  no  longer 
admitted  after  twelve  o'clock.  Come,  then,  and  look 
at  the  dry  swimming." 

A  system  of  movable  little  boards  screwed  to- 
gether at  their  ends  and  at  their  centers,  stretched 
out  in  lozenge-shape  or  closing  into  squares,  like  that 
children's  game  which  carries  along  soldiers  who  are 
spurred  on,  permitted  three  swimmers  to  be  garroted 
and  mangled  at  the  same  time. 

The  doctor  said:  "I  need  not  extol  to  you  the 
benefits  of  dry  swimming,  which  does  not  moisten 
the  body  except  by  perspiration,  and  consequently 
does  not  expose  our  imaginary  bather  to  any  danger 
of  rheumatism." 

But  a  waiter,  with  a  card  in  his  hand,  came  to 
look  for  the  doctor. 

"The  Due  de  Ramas,  my  dear  friend.  1  must 
leave  you.     Excuse  me." 


l86  WORKS  OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Paul,  left  there  alone,  turned  round.  The  two 
cavaliers  were  trotting  afresh.  M.  Aubry-Pasteur 
was  walking  still;  and  the  three  natives  of  Auvergne, 
with  their  arms  all  but  broken  and  their  backs  crack- 
ing with  thus  shaking  the  patients  on  whom  they 
were  operating,  were  quite  out  of  breath.  They 
looked  as  if  they  were  grinding  coffee. 

When  he  had  reached  the  open  air,  Bretigny  saw 
Doctor  Honorat  watching,  along  with  his  wife,  the 
preparations  for  the  fete.  They  began  to  chat,  gazing 
at  the  flags  which  crowned  the  hill  with  a  kind  of 
halo. 

"Is  it  at  the  church  the  procession  is  to  be 
formed?"  the  physician  asked  his  wife. 

"It  is  at  the  church." 

"At  three  o'clock  ?" 

"At  three  o'clock." 

"The  professors  will  be  there?" 

"Yes,  they  will  accompany  the  lady-sponsors." 

The  next  persons  to  stop  were  the  ladies  Paille. 
Then,  came  the  Monecus,  father  and  daughter.  But 
as  he  was  going  to  breakfast  alone  with  his  friend 
Gontran  at  the  Casino  Cafe,  he  slowly  made  his  way 
up  to  it.  Paul,  who  had  arrived  the  night  before, 
had  not  had  an  interview  with  his  comrade  for  the 
past  month;  and  he  was  longing  to  tell  him  many 
boulevard  stories  —  stories  about  gay  women  and 
houses  of  pleasure. 

They  remained  chattering  away  till  half  past  two 
when  Petrus  Martel  came  to  inform  them  that  people 
were  on  their  way  to  the  church. 

"Let  us  go  and  look  for  Christiane,"  said  Gon' 
Iran. 


MONT    ORIOL 


187 


"  Let  us  go,"  returned  Paul. 

They  found  her  standing  on  the  steps  of  the  new 
hotel.  She  had  the  hollow  cheeks  and  the  swarthy 
complexion  of  pregnant  women;  and  her  figure  indi- 
cated a  near  accouchement. 

"I  was  waiting  for  you,"  she  said.  "William  is 
gone  on  before  us.  He  has  so  many  things  to  do 
to-day." 

She  cast  toward  Paul  Bretigny  a  glance  full  of 
tenderness,  and  took  his  arm.  They  went  quietly  on 
their  way,  avoiding  the  stones. 

She  kept  repeating:  "How  heavy  I  am!  How 
heavy  1  am!  I  am  no  longer  able  to  walk.  I  am  so 
much  afraid  of  falling!" 

He  did  not  reply,  and  carefully  held  her  up,  with- 
out seeking  to  meet  her  eyes  which  she  turned 
toward  him  incessantly. 

In  front  of  the  church,  a  dense  crowd  was  await- 
ing them. 

Andermatt  cried:  "At  last!  at  last!  Come,  make 
haste.  See,  this  is  the  order:  two  choir-boys,  two 
chanters  in  surplices,  the  cross,  the  holy  water,  the 
priest,  then  Christiane  with  Professor  Cloche,  Mad- 
emoiselle Louise  with  Professor  Remusot,  and  Mad- 
emoiselle Charlotte  with  Professor  Mas-Roussel.  Next 
come  the  members  of  the  Board,  the  medical  body, 
then  the  public.     This  is  understood.     Forward!" 

The  ecclesiastical  staff  thereupon  left  the  church, 
taking  their  places  at  the  head  of  the  procession. 
Then  a  tall  gentleman  with  white  hair  brushed  back 
over  his  ears,  the  typical  "scientist,"  in  accordance 
with  the  academic  form,  approached  Madame  Ander- 
matt, and  saluted  her  with  a  low  bow. 


l88  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

When  he  had  straightened  himself  up  again,  with 
his  head  uncovered,  in  order  to  display  his  beautiful, 
scientific  head,  and  his  hat  resting  on  his  thigh  with 
an  imposing  air  as  if  he  had  learned  to  walk  at  the 
Comedie  Franfaise,  and  to  show  the  people  his  rosette 
of  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  too  big  for  a 
modest  man. 

He  began  to  talk:  "Your  husband,  Madame,  has 
been  speaking  to  me  about  you  just  now,  and  about 
your  condition  which  gives  rise  to  some  affectionate 
disquietude.  He  has  told  me  about  your  doubts  and 
your  hesitations  as  to  the  probable  moment  of  your 
delivery." 

She  reddened  to  the  temples,  and  she  murmured: 
"Yes,  I  believed  that  I  would  be  a  mother  a  very 
long  time  before  the  event.  Now  1  can't  tell  either — 
I  can't  tell  either—" 

She  faltered  in  a  state  of  utter  confusion. 

A  voice  from  behind  them  said:  "This  station  has 
a  very  great  future  before  it.  1  have  already  obtained 
surprising  effects." 

It  was  Professor  Remusot  addressing  his  com- 
panion, Louise  Oriol.  This  gentleman  was  small, 
with  yellow,  unkempt  hair,  and  a  frock-coat  badly 
cut,  the  dirty  look  of  a  slovenly  savant. 

Professor  Mas-Roussel,  who  gave  his  arm  to 
Charlotte  Oriol,  was  a  handsome  physician,  without 
beard  or  mustache,  smiling,  well-groomed,  hardly 
turning  gray  as  yet,  a  little  fleshy,  and,  with  his 
smooth,  clean-shaven  face,  resembling  neither  a 
priest  nor  an  actor,  as  was  the  case  with  Doctor 
Latonne. 

Next  came  the  members  of  the  Board,  with  Ander- 


MONTORIOL  189 

matt  at  their  head,  and  the  tall  hats  of  old  Oriol  and 
his  son  towering  above  them. 

Behind  them  came  another  row  of  tall  hats,  the 
medical  body  of  Enval,  among  whom  Doctor  Bonne- 
fille  was  not  included,  his  place,  indeed,  being  taken 
by  two  new  physicians.  Doctor  Black,  a  very  short  old 
man  almost  a  dwarf,  whose  excessive  piety  had  sur- 
prised the  whole  district  since  the  day  of  his  arrival; 
then  a  very  good-looking  young  fellow,  very  much 
given  to  flirtation,  and  wearing  a  small  hat,  Doctor 
Mazelli,  an  Italian  attached  to  the  person  of  the  Due  de 
Ramas  —  others  said,  to  the  person    of  the  Duchesse. 

And  behind  them  could  be  seen  the  public,  a  flood 
of  people  —  bathers,  peasants,  and  inhabitants  of  the 
adjoining  towns. 

The  ceremony  of  blessing  the  springs  was  very 
short.  The  Abbe  Litre  sprinkled  them  one  after  the 
other  with  holy  water,  which  made  Doctor  Honorat 
say  that  he  was  going  to  give  them  new  properties 
with  chloride  of  sodium.  Then  all  the  persons  spe- 
cially invited  entered  the  large  reading-room,  where  a 
collation  had  been  served. 

Paul  said  to  Gontran:  "How  pretty  the  little  Orlol 
girls  have  become!" 

"They  are  charming,  my  dear  fellow." 

"You  have  not  seen  M.  le  President?"  suddenly 
inquired  the  ex-jailer  overseer. 

"Yes,  he  is  over  there,  in  the  corner." 

"  Pere  Clovis  is  gathering  a  big  crowd  in  front  of 
the  door." 

Already,  while  moving  in  the  direction  of  the 
springs  for  the  purpose  of  having  them  blessed,  the 
entire   procession   had  filed  off  in  front  of  the  old  in- 


190 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


valid,  cured  the  year  before,  and  now  again  more 
paralyzed  than  ever.  He  would  stop  the  visitors  on 
the  road  and  the  last-comers  as  a  matter  of  choice, 
in  order  to  tell  them  his  story: 

"These  waters  here,  you  see,  are  no  good — they 
cure,  'tis  true,  but  you  relapse  again  afterward,  and 
after  this  relapse  you're  half  a  corpse.  As  for  me, 
my  legs  were  better  before,  and  here  I  am  now  with 
my  arms  gone  in  consequence  of  the  cure.  And  my 
legs,  they're  iron,  but  iron  that  you  have  to  cut  be- 
fore it  bends." 

Andermatt,  filled  with  vexation,  had  tried  to  pros- 
ecute him  in  a  court  of  justice  and  to  get  him  sent 
to  jail  for  having  depreciated  the  waters  of  Mont 
Oriol  and  having  attempted  extortion.  But  he  had 
not  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  conviction  or  in  shut- 
ting the  old  fellow's  mouth. 

The  moment  he  was  informed  that  the  old  vaga- 
bond was  babbling  before  the  door  of  the  establish- 
ment, he  rushed  out  to  make  Clovis  keep  silent. 

At  the  side  of  the  highroad,  in  the  center  of  an 
excited  crowd,  he  heard  angry  voices.  People  pressed 
forward  to  listen  and  to  see.  Some  ladies  asked: 
"What  is  this?"  Some  men  replied:  '"Tis  an  in- 
valid, whom  the  waters  here  have  finished."  Others 
believed  that  an  infant  had  just  been  squashed.  It 
was  also  said  that  a  poor  woman  had  got  an  attack 
of  epilepsy. 

Andermatt  broke  through  the  crowd,  as  he  knew 
how  to  do,  by  violently  pushing  his  little  round  stom- 
ach between  the  stomachs  of  other  people.  "It 
proves,"  Gontran  remarked,  "the  superiority  of  balls 
to  points." 


MONT    ORIOL  I^I 

Pere  Clovis,  sitting  on  the  ditch,  whined  about 
his  pains,  recounted  his  sufferings  in  a  sniveling  tone, 
while  standing  in  front  of  him,  and  separating  him 
from  the  public,  the  Oriols,  father  and  son,  exasper- 
ated, were  hurling  insults  and  threats  at  him  as 
loudly  as  ever  they  could. 

"That's  not  true,"  cried  Colosse.  "This  fellow  is 
a  liar,  a  sham,  a  poacher,  who  runs  all  night  through 
the  wood." 

But  the  old  fellow,  without  getting  excited,  kept 
reiterating  in  a  high,  piercing  voice  which  was  heard 
above  the  vociferations  of  the  two  Oriols:  "They've 
killed  me,  my  good  monchieus,  they've  killed  me 
with  their  water.  They  bathed  me  in  it  by  force  last 
year.     And  here  1  am  at   this    moment  —  here  I  am!" 

Andermatt  imposed  silence  on  all,  and  stooping 
toward  the  impotent  man,  said  to  him,  looking  into 
the  depths  of  his  eyes:  "  If  you  are  worse,  it  is  your 
own  fault,  mind.  If  you  listen  to  me,  1  undertake  to 
cure  you,  I  do,  with  fifteen  or  twenty  baths  at  most. 
Come  and  look  me  up  at  the  establishment  in  an 
hour,  when  the  people  have  all  gone  away,  my  good 
father.     In  the  meantime,  hold  your  tongue." 

The  old  fellow  had  understood.  He  became  silent, 
then,  after  a  pause,  he  answered:  "I'm  always  will- 
ing to  give  it  a  fair  trial.     You'll  see." 

Andermatt  caught  the  two  Oriols  by  the  arms  and 
quickly  dragged  them  away;  while  Pere  Clovis  re- 
mained stretched  on  the  grass  between  his  crutches, 
at  the  side  of  the  road,  blinking  his  eyes  under  the 
rays  of  the  sun. 

The  puzzled  crowd  kept  pressing  round  him. 
Some    gentlemen    questioned    him,    but    he    did    not 


192 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


reply,  as  though  he  had  not  heard  or  understood; 
and  as  this  curiosity,  futile  just  now,  ended  by  fatigu- 
ing him,  he  began  to  sing,  bareheaded,  in  a  voice 
as  false  as  it  was  shrill,  an  interminable  ditty  in  an 
unintelligible  dialect. 

The  crowd  ebbed  away  gradually.  Only  a  few 
children  remained  standing  a  long  time  in  front  of  him, 
with  their  fingers  in  their  noses,  contemplating   him, 

Christiane,  exceedingly  tired,  had  gone  in  to  take 
a  rest.  Paul  and  Gontran  walked  about  through  the 
new  park  in  the  midst  of  the  visitors.  Suddenly 
they  saw  the  company  of  players,  who  had  also  de- 
serted the  old  Casino,  to  attach  themselves  to  the 
growing  fortunes  of  the  new. 

Mademoiselle  Odelin,  who  had  become  quite 
fashionable,  was  leaning  as  she  walked  on  the  arm 
of  her  mother,  who  had  assumed  an  air  of  impor- 
tance. M.  Petitnivelle,  of  the  Vaudeville,  appeared 
very  attentive  to  these  ladies,  who  followed  M.  La- 
palme  of  the  Grand  Theater  of  Bordeaux,  arguing 
with  the  musicians  just  ai  of  old,  the  maestro  Saint 
Landri,  the  pianist  Javel,  the  flautist  Noirot,  and  the 
double-bass  Nicordi. 

On  perceiving  Paul  and  Gontran,  Saint  Landri 
rushed  toward  them.  He  had,  during  the  winter, 
got  a  very  small  musical  composition  performed  in  a 
very  small  out-of-the-way  theater;  but  the  newspapers 
had  spoken  of  him  with  a  certain  favor,  and  he  now 
treated  Massenet,  Beyer,  and  Gounod  contemptuously. 

He  stretched  forth  both  hands  with  an  outburst  of 
friendly  regard,  and  immediately  proceeded  to  repeat 
what  he  had  been  saying  to  those  gentlemen  of  the 
orchestra  over  whom  he  was  the  conductor. 


MONT    ORIOL  IC)3 

"Yes,  my  dear  friend,  it  is  finished,  finished, 
finished,  the  hackneyed  style  of  the  old  school.  The 
melodists  have  had  their  day.  This  is  what  people 
cannot  understand.  Music  is  a  new  art,  melody  is 
its  first  lisping.  The  ignorant  ear  loves  the  burden  of 
a  song.  It  takes  a  child's  pleasure,  a  savage's  pleas- 
ure in  it.  I  may  add  that  the  ears  of  the  people  or 
of  the  ingenuous  public,  the  simple  ears,  will  always 
love  little  songs,  airs,  in  a  word.  It  is  an  amusement 
similar  to  that  in  which  the  frequenters  of  cafe  con- 
certs indulge.  I  am  going  to  make  use  of  a  com- 
parison in  order  to  make  myself  understood.  The 
eye  of  the  rustic  loves  crude  colors  and  glaring  pic- 
tures; the  eye  of  the  intelligent  representative  of  the 
middle  class  who  is  not  artistic  loves  shades  benevo- 
lently pretentious  and  affecting  subjects;  but  the  artistic 
eye,  the  refined  eye,  loves,  understands,  and  distin- 
guishes the  imperceptible  modulations  of  a  single  tone, 
the  mysterious  harmonies  of  light  touches  invisible  to 
most  people. 

"It  is  the  same  with  literature.  Doorkeepers  like 
romances  of  adventure,  the  middle  class  like  novels 
which  appeal  to  the  feelings;  while  the  real  lovers  of 
literature  care  only  for  the  artistic  books  which  are 
incomprehensible  to  the  others.  When  an  ordinary  ' 
citizen  talks  music  to  me  1  feel  a  longing  to  kill  him. 
And  when  it  is  at  the  opera,  1  ask  him:  'Are  you 
capable  of  telling  me  whether  the  third  violin  has  made 
a  false  note  in  the  overture  of  the  third  act.^  No. 
Then  be  silent.  You  have  no  ear.  The  man  who  does 
not  understand,  at  the  same  time,  the  whole  and  all 
the  instruments  separately  in  an  orchestra  has  no  ear, 
and  is  no  musician.     There  you  are!     Good  night!'" 

8    G.<leM.— 13 


194 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


He  turned  round  on  his  heel,  and  resumed:  "For 
an  artist  all  music  is  in  a  chord.  Ah!  my  friend, 
certain  chords  madden  me,  cause  a  flood  of  inex- 
pressible happiness  to  penetrate  ail  my  flesh.  I  have 
to-day  an  ear  so  well  exercised,  so  finished,  so  ma- 
tured, that  I  end  by  liking  even  certain  false  chords, 
just  like  a  virtuoso  whose  fully-developed  taste 
amounts  to  a  form  of  depravity.  I  am  beginning  to 
be  a  vitiated  person  who  seeks  for  extreme  sensa- 
tions of  hearing.  Yes,  my  friends,  certain  false  notes. 
What  delights!  What  perverse  and  profound  de- 
lights! How  this  moves,  how  it  shakes  the  nerves! 
how  it  scratches  the  ear — how  it  scratches!  how  it 
scratches!  " 

He  rubbed  his  hands  together  rapturously,  and  he 
hummed:  "You  shall  hear  my  opera  —  my  opera  — 
my  opera.     You  shall  hear  my  opera." 

Gontran  said:     "You   are   composing   an   opera?" 

"Yes,  I  have  finished  it."  But  the  commanding 
voice  of  Petrus  Martel  resounded: 

"You  understand  perfectly!  A  yellow  rocket,  and 
off  you  go!" 

He  was  giving  orders  for  the  fireworks.  They 
joined  him,  and  he  explained  his  arrangements  by 
showing  with  his  outstretched  arm,  as  if  he  were 
threatening  a  hostile  fleet,  stakes  of  white  wood  on 
the  mountain  above  the  gorge,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  valley. 

"It  is  over  there  that  they  are  to  be  shot  out.  I 
told  my  pyrotechnist  to  be  at  his  post  at  half  past 
eight.  The  very  moment  the  spectacle  is  over,  I  will 
give  the  signal  from  here  by  a  yellow  rocket,  and 
then  he  will  illuminate  the  opening  piece." 


MONT    ORIOL 


195 


The  Marquis  made  his  appearance:  "I  am  going 
to  drink  a  glass  of  water,"  he  said. 

Paul  and  Gontran  accompanied  him,  and  again 
descended  the  hill.  On  reaching  the  establishment, 
they  saw  Pere  Clovis,  who  had  got  there,  sustained 
by  the  two  Oriols,  followed  by  Andermatt  and  by 
the  doctor,  and  making,  every  time  he  trailed  his 
legs  on  the  ground,  contortions  suggestive  of  ex- 
treme pain. 

"Let  us  go  in,"  said  Gontran,  "this  will  be  funny." 

The  paralytic  was  placed  sitting  in  an  armchair. 
Then  Andermatt  said  to  him:  "Here  is  what  I  pro- 
pose, old  cheat  that  you  are.  You  are  going  to  be 
cured  immediately  by  taking  two  baths  a  day.  And 
the  moment  you  walk  you'll  have  two  hundred 
francs." 

The  paralytic  began  to  groan:  "My  legs,  they  are 
iron,  my  good  Monchieu!" 

Andermatt  made  him  hold  his  tongue,  and  went 
on:  "Now,  listen!  You  shall  again  have  two  hun- 
dred francs   every  year  up  to   the  time  of  your   death 

—  you  understand  —  up  to  the  time  of  your  death, 
if  you  continue  to  experience  the  salutary  effect  of 
our  waters." 

The  old  fellow  was  in  a  state  of  perplexity.  The 
continuous  cure  was  opposed  to  his  plan  of  action. 
He  asked  in  a  hesitating  tone:  "But  when  —  when 
it  is  closed  up — -this  box  of  yours  —  if  this  should 
take   hold    of  me   again  —  1    can    do    nothing   then  —  I 

—  seeing  that  it  will  be  shut  up  —  your  water — " 

Doctor  Latonne  interrupted  him,  and,  turning  to- 
ward Andermatt,  said:  "Excellent!  excellent!  We'll 
cure  him   every  year.     This  will   be  even   better,   and 


196 


WORKS   OF  GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 


will  show  the  necessity  of  annual  treatment,  the  in- 
dispensability  of  returning  hither.  Excellent — this  is 
perfectly  clear! " 

But  the  old  man  repeated  afresh:  "It  will  not 
suit  this  time,  my  good  Monchieu.  My  legs,  they're 
iron,  iron  in  bars." 

A  new  idea  sprang  up  in  the  doctor's  mind:  "If 
I  got  him  to  try  a  course  of  seated  walking,"  he  said, 
"I  might  hasten  the  effect  of  the  waters  considerably. 
It  is  an  experiment  worth  trying." 

"Excellent  idea,"  returned  Andermatt,  adding: 
"Now,  Pere  Clovis,  take  yourself  off,  and  don't  for- 
get our  agreement." 

The  old  fellow  went  away  still  groaning;  and, 
when  evening  came  on,  all  the  directors  of  Mont 
Oriol  came  back  to  dine,  for  the  theatrical  representa- 
tion was  announced  to   take  place  at  half  past  seven. 

The  great  hall  of  the  new  Casino  was  the  place 
where  they  were  to  dine.  It  was  capable  of  holding 
a  thousand  persons. 

At  seven  o'clock  the  visitors  who  had  not  num- 
bered seats  presented  themselves.  At  half  past  seven 
the  hall  was  filled,  and  the  curtain  was  raised  for  the 
performance  of  a  vaudeville  in  two  acts,  which  pre- 
ceded Saint  Landri's  operetta,  interpreted  by  vocalists 
from  Vichy,  who  had  given  their  services  for  the  oc- 
casion. 

Christiane  in  the  front  row,  between  her  brother 
and  her  husband,  suffered  a  great  deal  from  the  heat. 
Every  moment  she  repeated:  "I  feel  quite  exhausted! 
I  feel  quite  exhausted!" 

After  the  vaudeville,  as  the  operetta  was  opening, 
she  was  becoming  ill,  and  turning  round  to  her  hus- 


MONTORIOL  197 

band,  said:    "My  dear  Will,  I  shall  have  to  leave.     I 
am  suffocating! " 

The  banker  was  annoyed.  He  was  desirous  above 
everything  in  the  world  that  this  fete  should  be  a 
success,  from  start  to  finish,  without  a  single  hitch. 
He  replied: 

"Make  every  effort  to  hold  out.  I  beg  of  you  to 
do  so!  Your  departure  would  upset  everything.  You 
would  have  to  pass  through  the  entire  hall!" 

But  Gontran,  who  was  sitting  along  with  Paul 
behind  her,  had  overheard.  He  leaned  toward  his 
sister:     "You  are  too  warm?"  said  he. 

"Yes,  I  am  suffocating." 

"Good.     Stay!     You  are   going  to  have  a  laugh." 

There  was  a  window  near.  He  slipped  toward 
it,  got  upon  a  chair,  and  jumped  out  without  at- 
tracting hardly  any  notice.  Then  he  entered  the  cafi, 
which  was  perfectly  empty,  stretched  his  hand  out 
under  the  bar  where  he  had  seen  Petrus  Martel  con- 
ceal the  signal-rocket,  and,  having  filched  it,  he  ran 
off  to  hide  himself  under  a  group  of  trees,  and  then 
set  it  on  fire.  The  swift  yellow  sheaf  flew  up  toward 
the  clouds,  describing  a  curve,  and  casting  across  the 
sky  a  long  shower  of  flame-drops.  Almost  instan- 
taneously a  terrible  detonation  burst  forth  over  the 
neighboring  mountain,  and  a  cluster  of  stars  sent  fly- 
ing sparks  through  the  darkness  of  the  night. 

Somebody  exclaimed  in  the  hall  where  the  spec- 
tators were  gathered,  and  where  at  the  moment 
Saint  Landri's  chords  were  quivering:  "They're  letting 
off  the  fireworks!" 

The  spectators  who  were  nearest  to  the  door  ab- 
ruptly   rose  to  their  feet  to  make   sure   about   it,  and 


198 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


went  out  with  light  steps.  All  the  rest  turned  their 
eyes  toward  the  windows,  but  saw  nothing,  for  they 
were  looking  at  the  Limagne.  People  kept  asking: 
"Is  it  true?     Is  it  true?" 

The  impatient  assembly  got  excited,  hungering 
above  everything  for  simple  amusements.  A  voice 
from  outside  announced:  "It  is  true!  The  fireworks 
are  let  off!" 

Then,  in  a  second  everyone  in  the  hall  was  stand- 
ing up.  They  rushed  toward  the  door;  they  jostled 
against  each  other;  they  yelled  at  those  who  ob- 
structed their  egress:  "Hurry  on!  hurry  on!" 

The  entire  audience,  in  a  short  time,  had  emerged 
into  the  park.  Saint  Landri  alone,  in  a  state  of  ex- 
asperation continued  beating  time  in  front  of  his  dis- 
tracted orchestra.  Meanwhile,  fiery  suns  succeeded 
Roman  candles  in  the  midst  of  detonations 

Suddenly,  a  formidable  voice  sent  forth  thrice  this 
wild  exclamation:  "Stop,  in  God's  name!  Stop,  in 
God's  name!     Stop,  in  God's  name!" 

And,  as  an  immense  Bengal  fire  next  illuminated 
the  mountain  and  lighted  up  in  red  to  the  right  and 
blue  to  the  left,  the  enormous  rocks  and  trees,  Petrus 
Martel  could  be  seen  standing  on  one  of  the  vases  of 
imitation  marble  that  decorated  the  terrace  of  the 
Casino,  bareheaded,  with  his  arms  in  the  air,  ges- 
ticulating and  howling. 

Then,  the  great  illumination  being  extinguished, 
nothing  could  be  seen  any  longer  save  the  real  stars. 
But  immediately  another  rocket  shot  up,  and  Petrus 
Martel,  jumping  on  the  ground,  exclaimed:  "What  a 
disaster!  what  a  disaster!  My  God,  what  a  disas- 
ter!" 


MONT    ORIOL 


199 


And  he  passed  through  the  crowd  with  tragic  ges- 
iLnes,  with  blows  of  his  fist  in  the  empty  air,  furious 
stampings  of  his  feet,  always  repeating:  "What  a 
disaster!     My  God,  what  a  disaster!" 

Christiane  had  taken  Paul's  arm  to  get  a  seat  in  the 
open  air,  and  kept  looking  with  delight  at  the  rockets 
which  ascended  into  the  sky. 

Her  brother  came  up  to  her  suddenly,  and  said: 
"Hey,  is  it  a  success?    Do  you  think   it   is   funny?" 

She  murmured:   "What,  it  is  you?" 

"Why,  yes,  it  is  I.     Is  it  good,  hey?" 

She  began  to  laugh,  finding  it  really  amusing. 
But  Andermatt  arrived  in  a  state  of  great  mental  dis- 
tress. He  did  not  understand  how  such  a  blow  could 
have  come.  The  rocket  had  been  stolen  from  the 
bar  to  give  the  signal  agreed  upon.  Such  an  infamy 
could  only  have  been  perpetrated  by  some  emissary 
of  the  old  Company,  some  agent  of  Doctor  Bonnefille! 

And  he  repeated:  "'Tis  maddening,  positively 
maddening.  Here  are  fireworks  worth  two  thousand 
three  hundred  francs  destroyed,  entirely  destroyed!" 

Gontran  replied:  "No,  my  dear  fellow,  on  a  proper 
calculation,  the  loss  does  not  mount  up  to  more  than 
a  quarter;  let  us  put  it  at  a  third,  if  you  like;  say 
seven  hundred  and  sixty-six  francs.  Your  guests 
will,  therefore,  have  enjoyed  fifteen  hundred  and 
thirty-four  francs'  worth  of  rockets.  This  truly  is  not 
bad." 

The  banker's  anger  turned  against  his  brother-in- 
law.  He  caught  him  roughly  by  the  arm:  "Gon- 
tran, I  want  to  talk  seriously  to  you.  Since  I  have  a 
hold  of  you,  let  us  take  a  turn  in  the  walks.  Be- 
sides, I  have  five  minutes  to  spare." 


200  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Then,  turning  toward  Christiane:  "I  place  you  in 
charge  of  our  friend  Bretigny,  my  dear;  but  don't  re- 
main a  long  time  out  —  take  care  of  yourself.  You 
might  catch  cold,  you  know.  Be  careful!  ^e  care- 
ful!" 

She  murmured:  "Never  fear,  dear." 

So  Andermatt  carried  off  Gontran.  When  they 
were  alone,  at  a  little  distance  from  the  crowd,  the 
banker  stopped:  "My  dear  fellow,  'tis  about  your 
financial  position  that  I  want  to  talk." 

"About  my  financial  position?" 

"Yes,  you  know  it  well,  your  financial  posi- 
tion." 

"No.  But  you  ought  to  know  it  for  me,  since 
you  lent  money  to  me." 

"Well,  yes,  I  do  know  it,  and  'tis  for  that  reason 
I  want  to  talk  to  you." 

"It  seems  to  me,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  that  the 
moment  is  ill  chosen  —  in  the  midst  of  a  display  of 
fireworks!" 

"The  moment,  on  the  contrary,  is  very  well 
chosen.  1  am  not  talking  to  you  in  the  midst  of  a  dis- 
play of  fireworks,  but  before  a  ball." 

"Before  a  ball?     1  don't  understand." 

"Well,  you  are  going  to  understand.  Here  is 
your  position:  you  have  nothing  except  debts;  and 
you'll  never  have  anything  but  debts." 

Gontran  gravely  replied:  "You  tell  me  that  a  little 
bluntly." 

"Yes,  because  it  is  necessary.  Listen  to  me! 
You  have  eaten  up  the  share  which  came  to  you  as 
a  fortune  from  your  mother.  Let  us  say  no  more 
about  that." 


MONTORIOL  20\ 

"Let  US  say  no  more  about  it." 

"As  for  your  father,  he  possesses  a  yearly  income 
of  thirty  thousand  francs,  say,  a  capital  of  about 
eight  hundred  thousand  francs.  Your  share,  later  on, 
will,  therefore,  be  four  hundred  thousand  francs. 
Now  you  owe  me  —  me,  personally  —  one  hundred  and 
ninety  thousand  francs.  You  owe  money  besides  to 
usurers." 

Gontran  muttered  in  a  haughty  tone:  "Say,  to 
Jews." 

"Be  it  so,  to  Jews,  although  among  the  number 
there  is  a  churchwarden  from  Saint  Sulpice  who  made 
use  of  a  priest  as  an  intermediary  between  himself 
and  you  —  but  I  will  not  cavil  about  such  trifles.  You 
owe,  then,  to  various  usurers,  Israelites  or  Catholics, 
nearly  as  much.  Let  us  put  it  at  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  at  the  lowest  estimate.  This  makes  a  total 
of  three  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs,  on  which 
you  are  paying  interest,  always  borrowing,  except 
with  regard  to  mine,  which  you  do  not  pay." 

"That's  right,"  said  Gontran. 

"So  then,  you  have  nothing  more  left." 

"Nothing,  indeed  —  except  my  brother-in-law." 

"Except  your  brother-in-law,  who  has  had  enough 
of  lending  money  to  you." 

"What  then?" 

"What  then,  my  dear  fellow?  The  poorest  peas- 
ant  living   in  one  of  these   huts  is   richer  than  you." 

"Exactly  —  and    next?" 

"Next  —  next — ?  If  your  father  were  to  die  to- 
morrow, you  would  no  longer  have  any  resource  to 
get  bread — to  get  bread,  mind  you  —  except  to  take 
a  post  as  a  clerk  in  my  house.     And  this  again  would 


202  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 

only  be  a   means  of  disguising   the   pension   which  I 
should  be  allowing  you." 

Gontran,  in  a  tone  of  irritation,  said:  "My  dear 
William,  these  things  bore  me.  1  know  them,  be- 
sides, just  as  well  as  you  do,  and,  1  repeat,  the 
moment  is  ill  chosen  to  remind  me  about  them  — 
with  —  with  so  little  diplomacy." 

"  Allow  me,  let  me  finish.  You  can  only  extricate 
yourself  from  it  by  a  marriage.  Now,  you  are  a 
wretched  match,  in  spite  of  your  name,  which  sounds 
well  without  being  illustrious.  In  short,  it  is  not 
one  of  those  which  an  heiress,  even  a  Jewish  one, 
buys  with  a  fortune.  Therefore,  we  must  find  you  a 
wife  acceptable  and  rich  —  which  is  not  very  easy — " 

Gontran  interrupted  him:  "Give  her  name  at  once 
—  that  is  the  best  way." 

"Be  it  so  — one  of  Pere  Oriol's  daughters,  which- 
ever you  prefer.  And  this  is  why  I  wanted  to  talk 
to  you  before  the   ball." 

"And  now  explain  yourself  at  greate"  length," 
returned  Gontran,  coldly. 

"It  is  very  simple.  You  see  the  success  I  have 
obtained  at  the  start  with  this  station.  Now  if 
I  had  in  my  hands,  or  rather  if  we  had  in  our  hands 
all  the  land  which  this  cunning  peasant  has  kept  for 
himself,  I  could  turn  it  into  gold.  To  speak  only  of 
the  vineyards  which  lie  between  the  establishment 
and  the  hotel  and  between  the  hotel  and  the  Casino, 
I  would  pay  a  million  francs  for  them  to-morrow  —  1, 
Andcrmatt.  Now,  these  vineyards  and  others  all 
round  the  knoll  will  be  the  dowries  of  these  girls. 
The  father  told  me  so  again  a  short  time  since,  not 
without  an  object,  perhaps.     Well,  if  you    were  will- 


MONT    ORIOL 


^3 


ing,  we  could  do  a  big  stroke  of  business  there,  the 
two  of  us." 

Gontran  muttered,  with  a  thoughtful  air:  "Tis 
possible.     I'll  think  over  it." 

"Do  think  over  it,  my  dear  boy,  and  don't  forget 
that  I  never  speak  of  things  that  are  not  very  sure,  or 
without  having  given  matters  every  consideration, 
and  realized  all  the  possible  consequences  and  all  the 
decided  advantages." 

But  Gontran,  lifting  up  his  arm,  as  if  he  had  sud- 
denly forgotten  all  that  his  brother-in-law  had  been 
saying  to  him:     "Look!     How  beautiful  that  is!" 

The  bunch  of  rockets  flamed  up,  in  imitation  of  a 
burning  palace  on  which  a  blazing  flag  had  inscribed 
on  it  "Mont  Oriol"  in  letters  of  fire  perfectly  red 
and,  right  opposite  to  it,  above  the  plain,  the  moon, 
red  also,  seemed  to  have  come  out  to  contemplate 
this  spectacle.  Then,  when  the  palace,  after  it  had 
been  burning  for  some  minutes,  exploded  like  a  ship 
which  is  blown  up,  flinging  toward  the  wide  heavens 
fantastic  stars  which  burst  in  their  turn,  the  moon 
remained  all  alone,  calm    and    round,  on   the  horizon. 

The  public  applauded  wildly,  exclaiming:  "  Hurrah! 
Bravo!  bravo!  " 

Andermatt,  all  of  a  sudden,  said:  "Let  us  go 
and  open  the  ball,  my  dear  boy.  Are  you  willing  to 
dance  the  first  quadrille  face  to  face  with  me?" 

"Why,  certainly,  my  dear  brother-in-law." 

"Who  have  you  thought  of  asking  to  dance  with 
you  ?  As  for  me,  1  have  bespoken  the  Duchesse  de 
Ram  as." 

Gontran  answered  in  a  tone  of  indifference:  "I 
will  ask  Charlotte  Oriol." 


204 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 


They  reascended.  As  they  passed  in  front  of  the 
spot  where  Christiane  was  resting  with  Paul  Bre- 
tigny,  they  did  not  notice  the  pair.  WilHam  mur- 
mured: "She  has  followed  my  advice.  She  went 
home  to  go  to  bed.  She  was  quite  tired  out  to-day." 
And  he  advanced  toward  the  ballroom  which  the 
attendants  had  been  getting  ready  during  the  fire- 
works. 

But  Christiane  had  not  returned  to  her  room,  as 
her  husband  supposed.  As  soon  as  she  realized  that 
she  was  alone  with  Paul  she  said  to  him  in  a  very 
low  tone,  while  she  pressed  his   hand: 

"So  then  you  came.  I  was  waiting  for  you  for 
the  past  month.  Every  morning  I  kept  asking  my- 
self, '  Shall  I  see  him  to-day  ? '  and  every  night  I 
kept  saying  to  myself,  'It  will  be  to-morrow  then.' 
Why  have  you  delayed  so  long,  my  love?" 

He  replied  with  some  embarrassment:  "I  had 
matters  to  engage  my  attention — business." 

She  leaned  toward  him,  murmuring:  "It  was  not 
right  to  leave  me  here  alone  with  them,  especially  in 
my  state." 

He  moved  his  chair  a  little  away  from  her. 

"Be  careful!  We  might  be  seen.  These  rockets 
light  up  the  whole  country  around." 

She  scarcely  bestowed  a  thought  on  it;  she  said: 
"I  love  you  so  much!"  Then,  with  sudden  starts  of 
joy:  "Ah!  how  happy  I  feel,  how  happy  1  feel  at 
finding  that  we  are  once  more  together,  here!  Are 
you  thinking  about  it?  What  joy,  Paul!  How  we 
are  going  to  love  one  another  again!" 

She  sighed,  and  her  voice  was  so  weak  that  it 
seemed  a  mere  breath. 


MONT    ORIOL 


205 


"I  feel  a  foolish  longing  to  embrace  you,  but  it  is 
foolish  —  there!  —  foolish.  It  is  such  a  long  time 
since  I  saw  you! " 

Then,  suddenly,  with  the  fierce  energy  of  an 
impassioned  woman,  to  whom  everything  should 
give  way:  "Listen!  1  want  —  you  understand  —  I 
want  to  go  with  you  immediately  to  the  place  where 
we  said  adieu  to  one  another  last  year!  You  remem- 
ber well,  on  the  road  from  La  Roche  Pradiere?" 

He  replied,  stupefied:  "But  this  is  senseless! 
You  cannot  walk  farther.  You  have  been  standing 
all  day.     This  is  senseless;  I  will  not  allow  it." 

She  had  risen  to  her  feet,  and  she  said:  "I  am 
determined  on  it!  If  you  do  not  accompany  me,  I'll 
go  alone  !" 

And  pointing  out  to  him  the  moon  which  had 
risen:  "See  here!  It  was  an  evening  just  like  this  I 
Do  you  remember  how  you  kissed  my  shadow?" 

He  held  her  back:  "  Christiane — listen  —  this  is 
ridiculous  —  Christiane  ! " 

She  did  not  reply,  and  walked  toward  the  descent 
leading  to  the  vineyards.  He  knew  that  calm  will 
which  nothing  could  divert  from  its  purpose,  the 
graceful  obstinacy  of  these  blue  eyes,  of  that  little 
forehead  of  a  fair  woman  that  could  not  be  stopped; 
and  he  took  her  arm  to  sustain  her  on  her  way. 

"Supposing  we  are  seen,  Christiane?" 

"You  did  not  say  that  to  me  last  year.  And  then, 
everyone  is  at  the  fete.  We'll  be  back  before  our 
absence  can  be  noticed." 

It  was  soon  necessary  to  ascend  by  the  stony 
path.  She  panted,  leaning  with  her  whole  weight  on 
him,  and  at  every  step  she  said: 


2o6  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

"It  is  good,  it  is  good,  to  suffer  thus!" 

He  stopped,  wishing  to  bring  her  back.  But  she 
would  not  listen  to  him. 

"  No,  no.  1  am  happy.  You  don't  understand 
this,  you.  Listen!  1  feel  it  leaping  in  me  —  our  child 
—  your  child  —  what  happiness.     Give  me  your  hand." 

She  did  not  realize  that  he  —  this  man  —  was  one 
of  the  race  of  lovers  who  are  not  of  the  race  of 
fathers.  Since  he  discovered  that  she  was  pregnant, 
he  kept  away  from  her,  and  was  disgusted  with  her, 
in  spite  of  himself.  He  had  often  in  bygone  days 
said  that  a  woman  who  has  performed  the  function 
of  reproduction  is  no  longer  worthy  of  love.  What 
raised  him  to  a  high  pitch  of  tenderness  was  that 
soaring  of  two  hearts  toward  an  inaccessible  ideal, 
that  entwining  of  two  souls  which  are  immaterial  — 
all  those  artificial  and  unreal  elements  which  poets 
have  associated  with  this  passion.  In  the  physical 
woman  he  adored  the  Venus  whose  sacred  side  must 
always  preserve  the  pure  form  of  sterility.  The  idea  of 
a  little  creature  which  owed  its  birth  to  him,  a  human 
larva  stirring  in  that  body  defiled  by  it  and  already 
grown  ugly,  inspired  him  with  an  almost  unconquer- 
able repugnance.  Maternity  had  made  this  woman  a 
brute.  She  was  no  longer  the  exceptional  being 
adored  and  dreamed  about,  but  the  animal  that  re- 
produces its  species.  And  even  a  material  disgust 
was  mingled  in  him  with  these  loathings  of  his  mind. 

How  could  she  have  felt  or  divined  this  —  she 
whom  each  movement  of  the  child  she  yearned  for 
attached  the  more  closely  to  her  lover?  This  man 
whom  she  adored,  whom  she  had  every  day  loved  a 
little  more  since  the  moment    of  their   first   kiss,  had 


MONT    ORIOL 


20fJ 


not  only  penetrated  to  the  bottom  of  her  heart,  but  had 
given  her  the  proof  that  he  had  also  entered  into  the 
very  depths  of  her  flesh,  that  he  had  sown  his  own 
life  there,  that  he  was  going  to  come  forth  from  her, 
again  becoming  quite  small.  Yes,  she  carried  him 
there  under  her  crossed  hands,  himself,  her  good,  her 
dear,  her  tenderly  beloved  one,  springing  up  again  in 
her  womb  by  the  mystery  of  nature.  And  she  loved 
him  doubly,  now  that  she  had  him  in  two  forms  — 
the  big,  and  the  little  one  as  yet  unknown,  the  one 
whom  she  saw,  touched,  embraced,  and  could  hear 
speaking  to  her,  and  the  one  whom  she  could  up  to 
this  only  feel  stirring  under  her  skin.  They  had  by 
this  time  reached  the  road. 

"You  were  waiting  for  me  over  there  that  even- 
ing," said  she.     And  she  held  her  lips  out  to  him. 

He  kissed  them,  without  replying,  with  a  cold 
kiss. 

She  murmured  for  the  second  time:  "Do  you  re- 
member how  you  embraced  me  on  the  ground.  We 
were  like  this  —  look!" 

And  in  the  hope  that  he  would  begin  it  all  over 
again  she  commenced  running  to  get  some  distance 
away  from  him.  Then  she  stopped,  out  of  breath, 
and  waited,  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  road.  But 
the  moon,  which  lengthened  out  her  profile  on  the 
ground,  traced  there  the  protuberance  of  her  swollen 
figure.  And  Paul,  beholding  at  his  feet  the  shadow 
of  her  pregnancy,  remained  unmoved  at  sight  of  it, 
wounded  in  his  poetic  sense  with  shame,  exasperated 
that  she  was  not  able  to  share  his  feelings  or  divine 
his  thoughts,  that  she  had  not  sufficient  coquetry, 
tact,  and  feminine  delicacy  to  understand  all  the  shade" 


2o8  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

which  give  such  a  different  complexion  to  circum- 
stances; and  he  said  to  her  with  impatience  in  his 
voice : 

"Look  here,  Christiane!  This  child's  play  is  ridicu- 
lous." 

She  came  back  to  him  moved,  saddened,  with 
outstretched  arms,  and,  flinging  herself  on  his  breast: 

"Ah!  you  love  me  less.    1  feel  it!    I  am  sure  of  it!" 

He  took  pity  on  her,  and,  encircling  her  head  with 
his  arms,  he  imprinted  two  long  sweet  kisses  on 
her  eyes. 

Then  in  silence  they  retraced  their  steps.  He 
could  find  nothing  to  say  to  her;  and,  as  she  leaned 
on  him,  exhausted  by  fatigue,  he  quickened  his  pace 
so  that  he  might  no  longer  feel  against  his  side  the 
touch  of  this  enlarged  figure.  When  they  were  near 
the  hotel,  they  separated,  and  she  went  up  to  her 
own  apartment. 

The  orchestra  at  the  Casino  was  playing  dance- 
music;  and  Paul  went  to  look  at  the  ball.  It  was  a 
waltz;  and  they  were  all  waltzing  —  Doctor  Latonne 
with  the  younger  Madame  Paille,  Andermatt  with 
Louise  Oriol,  handsome  Doctor  Mazelli  with  the 
Duchesse  de  Ramas,  and  Gontran  with  Charlotte 
Oriol.  He  was  whispering  in  her  ear  in  that  tender 
fashion  which  denotes  a  courtship  begun;  and  she 
was  smiling  behind  her  fan,  blushing,  and  apparently 
delighted. 

Paul  heard  a  voice  saying  behind  him:  "Look 
here!  look  here  at  M.  de  Ravenel  whispering  gallant- 
ries to  my  fair  patient." 

He  added,  after  a  pause:  "And  there  is  a  pearl, 
good,    gay,  simple,    devoted,  upright,  you    know,    an 


MONT    ORIOL 


209. 


excellent  creature.  She  is  worth  ten  of  the  elder 
sister.  1  have  known  them  since  their  childhood^ 
these  little  girls.  And  yet  the  father  prefers  the  elder 
one,  because  she  is  more  —  more  like  him  —  more  of 
a  peasant  —  less  upright  —  more  thrifty  —  more  cunning 
—  and  more  —  more  jealous.  Ah!  she  is  a  good  girl, 
all  the  same.  1  would  not  like  to  say  anything  bad 
of  her;  but,  in  spite  of  myself,  I  compare  them,  you 
understand  —  and,  after  having  compared  them,  I 
judge  them  —  there  you  are!" 

The  waltz  was  coming  to  an  end;  Gontran  went 
to  join  his  friend,  and,  perceiving  the  doctor: 

"Ah!  tell  me  now  —  there  appears  to  me  to  be  a 
remarkable  increase  in  the  medical  body  at  Enval. 
We  have  a  Doctor  Mazelli  who  waltzes  to  perfection 
and  an  old  little  Doctor  Black  who  seems  on  very 
good  terms  with  Heaven." 

But  Doctor  Honorat  was  discreet.  He  did  not  like- 
to  sit  in  judgment  on  his  professional  brethren. 

SG.de  M.— 14 


CHAPTER  X. 

Gontran's  Choice 


^HE  burning  question  now  was  that 
of  tlie  physicians  at  Enval.  They 
had  suddenly  made  themselves  the 
masters  of  the  district,  and  absorbed 
all  the  attention  and  all  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  inhabitants.  Formerly 
the  springs  flowed  under  the  author- 
ity of  Doctor  Bonnefille  alone,  in  the 
midst  of  the  harmless  animosities  of 
restless  Doctor  Latonne  and  placid  Doctor 
Honorat. 
Now,  it  was  a  very  different  thing.  Since 
the  success  planned  during  the  winter  by  An- 
dermatt  had  quite  taken  definite  shape,  thanks 
to  the  powerful  co-operation  of  Professors  Cloche, 
Mas-Roussel,  and  Remusot,  who  had  each  brought 
there  a  contingent  of  two  or  three  hundred  patients 
at  least,  Doctor  Latonne,  inspector  of  the  new  estab- 
lishment, had  become  a  big  personage,  specially  pat- 
ronized by  Professor  Mas-Roussel,  whose  pupil  he  had 
been,  and  whose  deportment  and  gestures  he  imitated. 
Docter    Bonnefille   was    scarcely  ever  talked   about 

(2IO) 


MONT    ORIOL  311 

any  longer.  Furious,  exasperated,  railing  against 
Mont  Oriol,  the  old  physician  remained  the  whole 
day  in  the  old  establishment  with  a  few  old  patients 
who  had  kept  faithful  to  him. 

In  the  minds  of  some  invalids,  indeed,  he  was  the 
only  person  that  understood  the  true  properties  of  the 
waters;  he  possessed,  so  to  speak,  their  secret,  since 
he  had  officially  administered  them  from  the  time 
the  station  was  first  established. 

Doctor  Honorat  barely  managed  to  retain  his  prac- 
tice among  the  natives  of  Auvergne.  With  the  mod- 
erate income  he  derived  from  this  source  he  contented 
himself,  keeping  on  good  terms  with  everybody,  and 
consoled  himself  by  much  preferring  cards  and  wine 
to  medicine.  He  did  not,  however,  go  quite  so  far 
as  to  love  his  professional  brethren. 

Doctor  Latonne  would,  therefore,  have  continued 
to  be  the  great  soothsayer  of  Mont  Oriol,  if  one 
morning  there  had  not  appeared  a  very  small  man, 
nearly  a  dwarf,  whose  big  head  sunk  between  his 
shoulders,  big  round  eyes,  and  big  hands  combined  to 
produce  a  very  odd-looking  individual.  This  new 
physician,  M.  Black,  introduced  into  the  district  by 
Professor  Remusot  immediately  excited  attention  by 
his  excessive  devotion.  Nearly  every  morning,  be- 
tween two  visits,  he  went  into  a  church  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  he  received  communion  nearly  every 
Sunday.  The  cure  soon  got  him  some  patients,  old 
maids,  poor  people  whom  he  attended  for  nothing, 
pious  ladies  who  asked  the  advice  of  their  spiritual 
director  before  calling  on  a  man  of  science,  whose 
sentiments,  reserve,  and  professional  modesty,  they 
wished  to  know  before  everything  else. 


212  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Then,  one  day,  the  arrival  of  the  Princess  de 
Maldebourg,  an  old  German  Highness,  was  announced 
—  a  very  fervent  Catholic,  who  on  the  very  evening 
when  she  first  appeared  in  the  district,  sent  for  Doc- 
tor Black  on  the  recommendation  of  a  Roman  cardi- 
nal. From  that  moment  he  was  the  fashion.  It  was 
good  taste,  good  form,  the  correct  thing,  to  be  at- 
tended by  him.  He  was  the  only  doctor,  it  was 
said,  who  was  a  perfect  gentleman  —  the  only  one  in 
whom  a  woman  could  repose  absolute  confidence. 

And  from  morning  till  evening  this  little  man 
with  the  bulldog's  head,  who  always  spoke  in  a 
subdued  tone  in  every  corner  with  everybody,  might 
be  seen  rushing  from  one  hotel  to  the  other.  He  ap- 
peared to  have  important  secrets  to  confide  or  to 
receive,  for  he  could  constantly  be  met  holding  long 
mysterious  conferences  in  the  lobbies  with  the  mas- 
ters of  the  hotels,  with  his  patients'  chambermaids, 
with  anyone  who  was  brought  into  contact  with  the 
invalids.  As  soon  as  he  saw  any  lady  of  his  ac- 
quaintance in  the  street,  he  went  straight  up  to  her 
with  his  short,  quick  step,  and  immediately  began  to 
mumble  fresh  and  minute  directions,  after  the  fashion 
of  a  priest  at  confession. 

The  old  women  especially  adored  him.  He  would 
listen  to  their  stories  to  the  end  without  interrupting 
them,  took  note  of  all  their  observations,  all  their 
questions,  and  all  their  wishes. 

He  increased  or  diminished  each  day  the  propor- 
tion of  water  to  be  consumed  by  his  patients,  which 
made  them  feel  perfect  confidence  in  the  care  taken 
of  them  by  him. 

"We  stopped  yesterday  at  two  glasses  and  three- 


MONT    ORIOL  213 

quarters,"  he  would  say;  "well,  to-day  we  shall 
only  take  two  glasses  and  a  half,  and  to-morrow 
three  glasses.  Don't  forget!  To-morrow,  three  glasses. 
1  am  very,  very  particular  about  it!" 

And  all  the  patients  were  convinced  that  he  was 
very  particular  about  it,  indeed. 

In  order  not  to  forget  these  figures  and  fractions 
of  figures,  he  wrote  them  down  in  a  memorandum- 
book,  in  order  that  he  might  never  make  a  mistake. 
For  the  patient  does  not  pardon  a  mistake  of  a  sin- 
gle half-glass.  He  regulated  and  modified  with  equal 
minuteness  the  duration  of  the  daily  baths  in  virtue 
of  principles  known  only  to  himself. 

Doctor  Latonne,  jealous  and  exasperated,  disdain- 
fully shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  declared:  "This  is 
a  swindler!"  His  hatred  against  Doctor  Black  had 
even  led  him  occasionally  to  run  down  the  mineral 
waters.  "Since  we  can  scarcely  tell  how  they  act, 
it  is  quite  impossible  to  prescribe  every  day  modifi- 
cations of  the  dose,  which  any  therapeutic  law  can- 
not regulate.  Proceedings  of  this  kind  do  the 
greatest  injury  to  medicine." 

Doctor  Honorat  contented  himself  with  smiling. 
He  always  took  care  to  forget,  five  minutes  after  a 
consultation,  the  number  of  glasses  which  he  had 
ordered.  "Two  more  or  less,"  said  he  to  Gontran 
in  his  hours  of  gaiety,  "there  is  only  the  spring  to 
take  notice  of  it;  and  yet  this  scarcely  incommodes 
it!"  The  only  wicked  pleasantry  that  he  permitted 
himself  on  his  religious  brother-physician  consisted  in 
describing  him  as  "the  doctor  of  the  Holy  Sitting- 
Bath."  His  jealousy  was  of  the  prudent,  sly,  and 
tranquil  kind. 


214 


WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


He  added  sometimes:  "Oh,  as  for  him,  he  knows 
the  patient  thoroughly;  and  this  is  often  better  than 
to  know  the  disease!" 

But  lo!  there  arrived  one  morning  at  the  hotel  of 
Mont  Oriol  a  noble  Spanish  family,  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  Ramas-Aldavarra,  who  brought  with  her 
her  own  physician,  an  Italian,  Doctor  Mazelli  from 
Milan.  He  was  a  man  of  thirty,  a  tall,  thin,  very 
handsome  young  fellow,  wearing  only  mustaches. 
From  the  first  evening,  he  made  a  conquest  of  the 
table  d'hote,  for  the  Duke,  a  melancholy  man,  attacked 
with  monstrous  obesity,  had  a  horror  of  isolation,  and 
desired  to  take  his  meals  in  the  same  dining-room  as 
the  other  patients.  Doctor  Mazelli  already  knew  by 
their  names  almost  all  the  frequenters  of  the  hotel; 
he  had  a  kindly  word  for  every  man,  a  compliment 
for  every  woman,  a  smile  even  for  every  servant. 

Placed  at  the  right-hand  side  of  the  Duchess,  a 
beautiful  woman  of  between  thirty-five  and  forty, 
with  a  pale  complexion,  black  eyes,  blue-black  hair, 
he  would  say  to  her  as  each  dish  came  round: 

"Very  little,"  or  else,  "No,  not  this,"  or  else, 
"Yes,  take  some  of  that."  And  he  would  himself 
pour  out  the  liquid  which  she  was  to  drink  with 
very  great  care,  measuring  exactly  the  proportions  of 
wine  and  water  which  he  mingled. 

He  also  regulated  the  Duke's  food,  but  with  visible 
carelessness.  The  patient,  however,  took  no  heed  of 
his  advice,  devoured  everything  with  bestial  voracity, 
drank  at  every  meal  two  decanters  of  pure  wine,  then 
went  tumbling  about  in  a  chaise  for  air  in  front  of 
the  hotel,  and  began  whining  with  pain  and  groaning 
over  his  bad  digestion. 


MONT    ORIOL 


215 


After  the  first  dinner,  Doctor  Mazelli,  who  had 
judged  and  weighed  all  around  him  with  a  single 
glance,  went  to  join  Gontran,  who  was  smoking  a 
cigar  on  the  terrace  of  the  Casino,  told  his  name,  and 
began  to  chat.  At  the  end  of  an  hour,  they  were  on 
intimate  terms.  Next  day,  he  got  himself  introduced 
to  Christianc  just  as  she  was  leaving  the  bath,  won 
her  good-will  after  ten  minutes'  conversation,  and 
brought  her  that  very  day  into  contact  with  the 
Duchess,  who  no  longer  cared  for  solitude. 

He  kept  watch  over  everything  in  the  abode  of 
the  Spaniards,  gave  excellent  advice  to  the  chef 
about  cooking,  excellent  hints  to  the  chambermaid  on 
the  hygiene  of  the  head  in  order  to  preserve  in  her 
mistress's  hair  its  luster,  its  superb  shade,  and  its 
abundance,  very  useful  information  to  the  coachman 
about  veterinary  medicine;  and  he  knew  how  to 
make  the  hours  swift  and  light,  to  invent  distractions, 
and  to  pick  up  in  the  hotels  casual  acquaintances  but 
always  prudently  chosen. 

The  Duchess  said  to  Christiane,  when  speaking  of 
him:  "He  is  a  wonderful  man,  dear  Madame.  He 
knows  everything;  he  does  everything.  It  is  to  him 
that  1  owe  my  figure." 

"How,  your  figure?" 

"Yes,  I  was  beginning  to  grow  fat,  and  he  saved 
me  with  his  regimen  and  his  liqueurs." 

Moreover,  Mazelli  knew  how  to  make  medicine  it- 
self interesting;  he  spoke  about  it  with  such  ease,  with 
such  gaiety,  and  with  a  sort  of  light  scepticism  which 
helped  to  convince  his  listeners  of  his  superiority. 

"'Tis  very  simple,"  said  he;  "1  don't  believe  in 
remedies  —  or   rather   I   hardly  believe   in   them.     The 


■21 6  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 

old-fashioned  medicine  started  with  this  principle  — 
that  there  is  a  remedy  for  everything.  God,  they  be- 
lieve, in  His  divine  bounty,  has  created  drugs  for  ail 
maladies,  only  He  has  left  to  men,  through  malice, 
perhaps,  the  trouble  of  discovering  these  drugs.  Now, 
men  have  discovered  an  incalculable  number  of  them 
without  ever  knowing  exactly  what  disease  each  of 
them  is  suited  for.  In  reality  there  are  no  remedies; 
there  are  only  maladies.  When  a  malady  declares 
itself,  it  is  necessary  to  interrupt  its  course,  according 
to  some,  to  precipitate  it,  according  to  others,  by 
some  means  or  another.  Each  school  extols  its  own 
method.  In  the  same  case,  we  see  the  most  antago- 
nistic systems  employed,  and  the  most  opposed  kinds 
of  medicine  —  ice  by  one  and  extreme  heat  by  the 
other,  dieting  by  this  doctor  and  forced  nourishment 
by  that.  I  am  not  speaking  of  the  innumerable 
poisonous  products  extracted  from  minerals  or  vege- 
tables, which  chemistry  procures  for  us.  All  this 
acts,  'tis  true,  but  nobody  knows  how.  Sometimes 
it  succeeds,  and  sometimes  it  kills." 

And,  with  much  liveliness,  he  pointed  out  the  im- 
possibility of  certainty,  the  absence  of  all  scientific 
basis  as  long  as  organic  chemistry,  biological  chem- 
istry had  not  become  the  starting-point  of  a  new 
medicine.  He  related  anecdotes,  monstrous  errors  of 
the  greatest  physicians,  and  proved  the  insanity  and 
the  falsity  of  their  pretended  science. 

"Make  the  body  discharge  its  functions,"  said  he. 
"Make  the  skin,  the  muscles,  all  the  organs,  and, 
above  all,  the  stomach,  which  is  the  foster-father  of 
the  entire  machine,  its  regulator  and  life-warehouse, 
discharge  their  functions." 


MONT    ORIOL  217 

He  asserted  that,  if  he  liked,  by  nothing  save 
regimen,  he  could  make  people  gay  or  sad,  capable 
of  physical  work  or  intellectual  work,  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  diet  which  he  imposed  on  them. 
He  could  even  act  on  the  faculties  of  the  brain,  on 
the  memory,  the  imagination,  on  all  the  manifesta- 
tions of  intelligence.  And  he  ended  jocosely  with 
these  words: 

"For  my  part,  I  nurse  my  patients  with  massage 
and  cura^oa." 

He  attributed  marvelous  results  to  massage,  and 
spoke  of  the  Dutchman  Hamstrang  as  of  a  god  per- 
forming miracles.  Then,  showing  his  delicate  white 
hands: 

"With  those,  you  might  resuscitate  the  dead." 

And  the  Duchess  added:  "The  fact  is  that  he  per- 
forms massage  to  perfection." 

He  also  lauded  alcoholic  beverages,  in  small  pro- 
portions to  excite  the  stomach  at  certain  moments; 
and  he  composed  mixtures,  cleverly  prepared,  which 
the  Duchess  had  to  drink,  at  fixed  hours,  either  be- 
fore or  after  her  meals. 

He  might  have  been  seen  each  morning  entering 
the  Casino  Cafe  about  half  past  nine  and  asking  for 
his  bottles.  They  were  brought  to  him  fastened  with 
little  silver  locks  of  which  he  had  the  key.  He  would 
pour  out  a  little  of  one,  a  little  of  another,  slowly 
into  a  very  pretty  blue  glass,  which  a  very  correct 
footman  held  up  respectfully. 

Then  the  doctor  would  give  directions:  "See! 
Bring  this  to  the  Duchess  in  her  bath,  to  drink  it, 
before  she  dresses  herself,  when  coming  out  of  the 
water." 


21 8  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

And  when  anyone  asked  him  through  curiosity: 
"What  have  you  put  into  it?"  he  would  answer: 
"Nothing  but  refined  aniseed-cordial,  very  pure  cura- 
90a,  and  excellent  bitters." 

This  handsome  doctor,  in  a  few  days,  became 
the  center  of  attraction  for  all  the  invalids.  And  every 
sort  of  device  was  resorted  to,  in  order  to  attract  a 
few  opinions  from  him. 

When  he  was  passing  along  through  the  walks  in 
the  park,  at  the  hour  of  promenade,  one  heard  noth- 
ing but  that  exclamation  of  "Doctor"  on  all  the 
chairs  where  sat  the  beautiful  women,  the  young 
women,  who  were  resting  themselves  a  little  between 
two  glasses  of  the  Christiane  Spring.  Then,  when  he 
stopped  with  a  smile  on  his  lip,  they  would  draw 
him  aside  for  some  minutes  into  the  little  path  be- 
side the  river.  At  first,  they  talked  about  one  thing 
or  another;  then  discreetly,  skillfully,  coquettishly, 
they  came  to  the  question  of  health,  but  in  an  indif- 
ferent fashion  as  if  they  were  touching  on  sundry 
topics. 

For  this  medical  man  was  not  at  the  disposal  of 
the  public.  He  was  not  paid  by  them,  and  people 
could  not  get  him  to  visit  them  nt  their  own  houses.  He 
belonged  to  the  Duchess,  only  to  the  Duchess.  This 
situation  even  stimulated  people's  efforts,  and  pro- 
voked their  desires.  And,  as  it  was  whispered 
positively  that  the  Duchess  was  jealous,  very  jealous, 
there  was  a  desperate  struggle  between  all  these 
ladies  to  get  advice  from  the  handsome  Italian  doc- 
tor. He  gave  it  without  forcing  them  to  entreat  him 
very  strenuously. 

Then,  among   the   women    whom    he   had  favored 


MONT    ORIOL 


219 


with  his  advice  arose  an  interchange  of  intimate 
confidences,  in  order  to  give  clear  proof  of  nis  so- 
licitude. 

"Oh!  my  dear,  he  asked  me  questions  —  but  such 
questions! " 

"  Very  indiscreet?" 

"Oh!  indiscreet!  Say  frightful.  I  actually  did  not 
know  what  answers  to  give  him.  He  wanted  to 
know  things  —  but  such  things!" 

"It  was  the  same  way  with  me.  He  questioned 
me  a  great  deal  about  my  husband!" 

"And  me,  also  —  together  with  details  so  —  so 
personal!  These  questions  are  very  embarrassing. 
However,  we  understand  perfectly  well  that  it  is 
necessary  to  ask  them." 

"Oh!  of  course.  Health  depends  on  these  minute 
details.  As  for  me,  he  promised  to  perform  massage 
on  me  at  Paris  this  winter.  1  have  great  need  of  it 
to  supplement  the  treatment  here." 

"Tell  me,  my  dear,  what  do  you  intend  to  do  in 
return?    He  cannot  take  fees." 

"Good  heavens!  my  idea  was  to  present  him  with 
a  scarf-pin.  He  must  be  fond  of  them,  for  he  has 
already  two  or  three  very  nice  ones." 

"Oh!  how  you  embarrass  me!  The  same  notion 
was  in  my  head.     In  that  case   I'll  give  him  a   ring." 

And  they  concocted  surprises  in  order  to  please 
him,  thought  of  ingenious  presents  in  order  to  touch 
him,  graceful  pleasantries  in  order  to  fascinate  him. 
He  became  the  "talk  of  the  day,"  the  great  subject 
of  conversation,  the  sole  object  of  public  attention, 
till  the  news  spread  that  Count  Gontran  de  Ravenel 
was  paying   his   addresses   to   Charlotte  Oriol   with   a 


220  WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

view  to  marrying  her.  And  tliis  at  once  led  to  a 
fresh  outburst  of  deafening  clamor  in  Enval. 

Since  the  evening  when  he  had  opened  with  her 
the  inaugural  ball  at  the  Casino,  Gontran  had  tied 
himself  to  the  young  girl's  skirts.  He  publicly  showed 
her  all  those  little  attentions  of  men  who  want  to 
please  without  hiding  their  object;  and  their  ordinary 
relations  assumed  at  the  same  time  a  character  of 
gallantry,  playful  and  natural,  which  seemed  likely  to 
lead  to  love. 

They  saw  one  another  nearly  every  day,  for  the 
two  girls  had  conceived  feelings  of  strong  friendship 
toward  Christiane,  into  which,  no  doubt,  there  en- 
tered a  considerable  element  of  gratified  vanity. 
Gontran  suddenly  showed  a  disposition  to  remain 
constantly  at  his  sister's  side;  and  he  began  to 
organize  parties  for  the  morning  and  entertainments 
for  the  evening,  which  greatly  astonished  Christiane 
and  Paul.  Then  they  noticed  that  he  was  devoting 
himself  to  Charlotte;  he  gaily  teased  her,  paid  her 
compliments  without  appearing  to  do  so,  and  mani- 
fested toward  her  in  a  thousand  ways  that  tender 
care  which  tends  to  unite  two  beings  in  bonds  of 
affection.  The  young  girl,  already  accustomed  to  the 
free  and  familiar  manners  of  this  gay  Parisian  youth, 
did  not  at  first  see  anything  remarkable  in  these 
attentions;  and,  abandoning  herself  to  the  impulses  of 
her  honest  and  confiding  heart,  she  began  to  laugh 
and  enjoy  herself  with  him  as  she  might  have  done 
with  a  brother. 

Now,  she  had  returned  home  with  her  elder  sister, 
after  an  evening  party  at  which  Gontran  had  several 
times  attempted  to  kiss  her  in  consequence  of  forfeits 


MONTORIOL  221 

due  by  her  in  a  game  of  "fly-pigeon,"  when  Louise, 
who  had  appeared  anxious  and  nervous  for  some  time 
past,  said  to  her  in  an  abrupt  tone: 

"You  would  do  well  to  be  a  little  careful  about 
your  deportment.  M.  Gontran  is  not  a  suitable  com- 
panion for  you." 

"Not  a  suitable  companion?     What  has  he  done?" 

"You  know  well  what  I  mean  —  don't  play  the 
ninny!  In  the  way  you're  going  on,  you  would  soon 
compromise  yourself;  and  if  you  don"t  know  how  to 
watch  over  your  conduct,  it  is  my  business  to  see 
after   it." 

Charlotte,  confused,  and  filled  with  shame,  faltered: 
"But  1  don't  know  —  I  assure  you  —  I  have  seen 
nothing  —  " 

Her  sister  sharply  interrupted  her:  "Listen! 
Things  must  not  go  on  this  way.  If  he  wants  to 
marry  you,  it  is  for  papa  —  for  papa  to  consider  the 
matter  and  to  give  an  answer;  but,  if  he  only  wants 
to  trifle  with  you,  he  must  desist  at  once!" 

Then,  suddenly,  Charlotte  got  annoyed  without 
knowing  why  or  with  what.  She  was  indignant  at 
her  sister  having  taken  it  on  herself  to  direct  her 
actions  and  to  reprimand  her;  and,  in  a  trembling 
voice,  and  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  she  told  her  that 
she  should  not  have  interfered  in  what  did  not  con- 
cern her.  She  stammered  in  her  exasperation,  divining 
by  a  vague  but  unerring  instinct  the  jealousy  that  had 
been  aroused  in  the  embittered  heart  of  Louise. 

They  parted  without  embracing  one  another,  and 
Charlotte  wept  when  she  got  into  bed,  as  she 
thought  over  things  that  she  had  never  foreseen  or 
suspected. 


222  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Gradually  her  tears  ceased  to  flow,  and  she  began 
to  reflect.  It  was  true,  nevertheless,  that  Gontran's 
demeanor  toward  her  had  altered.  She  had  enjoyed 
his  acquaintance  hitherto  without  understanding  him. 
She  understood  him  now.  At  every  turn  he  kept  re- 
peating to  her  pretty  compliments  full  of  delicate  flat- 
tery. On  one  occasion  he  had  kissed  her  hand. 
What  were  his  intentions  ?  She  pleased  him,  but  to 
what  extent  ?  Was  it  possible  by  any  chance  that  he 
desired  to  marry  her?  And  all  at  once  she  imagined 
that  she  could  hear  somewhere  in  the  air,  in  the  si- 
lent night  through  whose  empty  spaces  her  dreams 
were  flitting,  a  voice  exclaiming,  "Comtesse  de  Ra- 
venel." 

The  emotion  was  so  vivid  that  she  sat  up  in  the 
bed;  then,  with  her  naked  feet,  she  felt  for  her  slippers 
under  the  chair  over  which  she  had  thrown  her 
clothes,  and  she  went  to  open  the  window  without 
consciousness  of  what  she  was  doing,  in  order  to 
find  space  for  her  hopes.  She  could  hear  what  they 
were  saying  in  the  room  below  stairs,  and  Colosse's 
voice  was  raised:  "Let  it  alone!  let  it  alone!  There 
will  be  time  enough  to  see  to  it.  Father  will  arrange 
that.  There  is  no  harm  up  to  this.  'Tis  father  that 
will  do  the  thing." 

She  noticed  that  the  window  in  front  of  the  house, 
just  below  that  at  which  she  was  standing,  was  still 
lighted  up.  She  asked  herself:  "Who  is  there  now? 
What  are  they  talking  about  ?"  A  shadow  passed  over 
the  luminous  wall.  It  was  her  sister.  So  then,  she 
had  not  yet  gone  to  bed.  Why  ?  But  the  light  was 
presently  extinguished;  and  Charlotte  began  to  think 
about  other  things  that  were  agitating  her  heart. 


MONT    ORIOL  22} 

She  could  not  go  to  sleep  now.  Did  he  love  her? 
Oh!  no;  not  yet.  But  he  might  love  her,  since  she  had 
caught  his  fancy.  And  if  he  came  to  love  her  much, 
desperately,  as  people  love  in  society,  he  would  cer- 
tainly marry  her. 

Born  in  a  house  of  vinedressers,  she  had  pre- 
served, although  educated  in  the  young  ladies"  con- 
vent at  Clermont,  the  modesty  and  humility  of  a 
peasant  girl.  She  used  to  think  that  she  might  marry 
a  notary,  perhaps,  or  a  barrister  or  a  doctor;  but  the 
ambition  to  become  a  real  lady  of  high  social  posi- 
tion, with  a  title  of  nobility  attached  to  her  name  had 
never  entered  her  mind.  Even  when  she  had  just 
finished  the  perusal  of  some  love-story,  and  was  mus- 
ing over  the  glimpse  presented  to  her  of  such  a 
charming  prospect  for  a  few  minutes,  it  would  speedily 
Vanish  from  her  soul  just  as  chimeras  vanish.  Now, 
here  was  this  unforeseen,  inconceivable  thing,  which 
had  been  suddenly  conjured  up  by  some  words  of  her 
sister,  apparently  drawing  near  her  after  the  fashion 
of  a  ship's  sail  driven  onward  by  the  wind. 

Every  time  she  drew  breath,  she  kept  repeating 
with  her  lips:  "Comtesse  de  Ravenel."  And  the 
shades  of  her  dark  eyelashes,  as  they  closed  in  the 
night,  were  illuminated  with  visions.  She  saw  beau- 
tiful drawing-rooms  brilliantly  lighted  up,  beautiful 
women  greeting  her  with  smiles,  beautiful  carriages 
waiting  before  the  steps  of  a  chateau,  and  grand  serv- 
ants in  livery  bowing  as  she  passed. 

She  felt  heated  in  her  bed;  her  heart  was  beating. 
She  rose  up  a  second  time  in  order  to  drink  a  glass 
of  water,  and  to  remain  standing  in  her  bare  feet  for 
a  few  moments  on  the  cold  floor  of  her  apartment. 


224 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


Then,  somewhat  calmed,  she  ended  by  falling 
asleep.  But  she  awakened  at  dawn,  so  much  had  the 
agitation  of  her  heart  passed  into  her  veins. 

She  felt  ashamed  of  her  little  room  with  its  white 
walls,  washed  with  water  by  a  rustic  glazier,  her 
poor  cotton  curtains,  and  some  straw-chairs  which 
never  quitted  their  place  at  the  two  corners  of  her 
chest  of  drawers. 

She  realized  that  she  was  a  peasant  in  the  midst 
of  these  rude  articles  of  furniture  which  bespoke  her 
origin.  She  felt  herself  lowly,  unworthy  of  this  hand- 
some, mocking  young  fellow,  whose  fair  hair  and 
laughing  face  had  floated  before  her  eyes,  had  disap- 
peared from  her  vision  and  then  come  back,  had 
gradually  engrossed  her  thoughts,  and  had  already 
found  a  place  in  her  heart. 

Then  she  jumped  out  of  bed  and  ran  to  look  for 
her  glass,  her  little  toilette-glass,  as  large  as  the  center 
of  a  plate;  after  that,  she  got  into  bed  again,  her 
mirror  between  her  hands;  and  she  looked  at  her 
face  surrounded  by  her  hair  which  hung  loose  on  the 
white  background  of  the  pillow. 

Presently  she  laid  down  on  the  bedclothes  the 
little  piece  of  glass  which  reflected  her  lineaments, 
and  she  thought  how  difficult  it  would  be  for  such 
an  alliance  to  take  place,  so  great  was  the  distance 
between  them.  Thereupon  a  feeling  of  vexation 
seized  her  by  the  throat.  But  immediately  afterward 
she  gazed  at  her  image,  once  more  smiling  at  herself 
in  order  to  look  nice,  and,  as  she  considered  herself 
pretty,  the  difficulties  disappeared. 

When  she  went  down  to  breakfast,  her  sister, 
who  wore  a  look  of  irritation,  asked  her: 


MONT    ORIOL  225 

"What  do  you  propose  to  do  to-day?" 

Charlotte  replied  unhesitatingly:  "Are  we  not 
going  in  the  carriage  to  Royat  with  Madame  Ander- 
matt?" 

Louise  returned:  "You  are  going  alone,  then;  but 
you  might  do  something  better,  after  what  I  said  to 
you  last  night." 

The  younger  sister  interrupted  her:  "I  don't  ask 
for  your  advice  —  mind  your  own  business!" 

And  they  did  not  speak  to  one  another  again. 

Pere  Oriol  and  Jacques  came  in,  and  took  their 
seats  at  the  table.  The  old  man  asked  almost  im- 
mediately:    "What  are  you  doing  to-day,  girls?" 

Charlotte  said  without  giving  her  sister  time  to 
answer:  "As  for  me,  I  am  going  to  Royat  with 
Madame  Andermatt." 

The  two  men  eyed  her  with  an  air  of  satisfaction; 
and  the  father  muttered  with  that  engaging  smile 
which  he  could  put  on  when  discussing  any  business 
of  a  profitable  character:  "That's  good!  that's 
good!" 

She  was  more  surprised  at  this  secret  compla- 
cency which  she  observed  in  their  entire  bearing 
than  at  the  visible  anger  of  Louise;  and  she  asked 
herself,  in  a  somewhat  disturbed  frame  of  mind: 
"Can  they  have  been  talking  this  over  all  together?" 

As  soon  as  the  meal  was  over,  she  went  up  again 
to  her  room,  put  on  her  hat,  seized  her  parasol, 
threw  a  light  cloak  over  her  arm,  and  she  went  off 
in  the  direction  of  the  hotel,  for  they  were  to  start 
at  half  past  one. 

Christiane  expressed  her  astonishment  at  finding 
that  Louise  had  not  come. 

8    C.  deM.-i5 


226  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Charlotte  felt  herself  flushing  as  she  replied:  "She 
is  a  little  fatigued;  1  believe  she  has  a  headache." 

And  they  stepped  into  the  landau,  the  big  landau 
with  six  seats,  which  they  always  used.  The  Mar- 
quis and  his  daughter  remained  at  the  lower  end, 
while  the  Oriol  girl  found  herself  seated  at  the  op- 
posite side  between  the  two  young  men. 

They  passed  in  front  of  Tournoel;  they  proceeded 
along  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  by  a  beautiful  wind- 
ing road,  under  the  walnut  and  chestnut-trees. 
Charlotte  several  times  felt  conscious  that  Gontran 
was  pressing  close  up  to  her,  but  was  too  prudent 
to  take  offense  at  it.  As  he  sat  at  her  right-hand 
side,  he  spoke  with  his  face  close  to  her  cheek;  and 
she  did  not  venture  to  turn  round  to  answer  him, 
through  fear  of  touching  his  mouth,  which  she  felt 
already  on  her  lips,  and  also  through  fear  of  his  eyes, 
whose  glance  would  have  unnerved  her. 

He  whispered  in  her  ear  gallant  absurdities, 
laughable  fooleries,  agreeable  and  well-turned  com- 
pliments. 

Christiane  scarcely  uttered  a  word,  heavy  and  sick 
from  her  pregnancy.  And  Paul  appeared  sad,  pre- 
occupied. The  Marquis  alone  chatted  without  unrest 
or  anxiety,  in  the  sprightly,  graceful  style  of  a  selfish 
old  nobleman. 

They  got  down  at  the  park  of  Royat  to  listen  to 
the  music,  and  Gontran,  offering  Charlotte  his  arm, 
set  forth  with  her  in  front.  The  army  of  bathers,  on 
the  chairs,  around  the  kiosk,  where  the  leader  of  the 
orchestra  was  keeping  time  with  the  brass  instru- 
ments and  the  violins,  watched  the  promenaders 
filing    past.     The    women    exhibited  their    dresses   by 


MONT    ORIOL 


227 


Stretching  out  their  legs  as  far  as  the  bars  of  the 
chairs  in  front  of  them,  and  their  dainty  summer 
head-gear  made  them  look  more  fascinating. 

Charlotte  and  Gontran  sauntered  through  the  midst 
of  the  people  who  occupied  the  seats,  looking  out 
for  faces  of  a  comic  type  to  find  materials  for  their 
pleasantries. 

Every  moment  he  heard  some  one  saying  behind 
them:  "Look  there!  what  a  pretty  girl!"  He  felt 
flattered,  and  asked  himself  whether  they  took  her 
for  his  sister,  his  wife,  or  his  mistress. 

Christiane,  seated  between  her  father  and  Paul, 
saw  them  passing  several  times,  and  thinking  they 
exhibited  too  much  youthful  frivolity,  she  called  them 
over  to  her  to  soberize  them.  But  they  paid  no  at- 
tention to  her,  and  went  on  vagabondizing  through 
the  crowd,  enjoying  themselves  with  their  whole 
hearts. 

She  said  in  a  whisper  to  Paul  Bretigny:  "He 
will  finish  by  compromising  her.  It  will  be  neces- 
sary that  we  should  speak  to  him  this  evening  when 
he  comes  back." 

Paul  replied:  "I  had  already  thought  about  it. 
You  are  quite  right." 

They  went  to  dine  in  one  of  the  restaurants  of 
Clermont-Ferrand,  those  of  Royat  being  no  good,  ac- 
cording to  the  Marquis,  who  was  a  gourmand,  and 
they  returned  at  nightfall. 

Charlotte  had  become  serious,  Gontran  having 
strongly  pressed  her  hand,  while  presenting  her 
gloves  to  her,  before  she  quitted  the  table.  Her  young 
girl's  conscience  was  suddenly  troubled.  This  was 
an  avowal!  an  advance!  an  impropriety!     What  ought 


228  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

she  to  do  ?  Speak  to  him  ?  but  about  what  ?  To  be 
offended  would  be  ridiculous.  There  was  need 
of  so  much  tact  in  these  circumstances.  But  by  do- 
ing nothing,  by  saying  nothing,  she  produced  the 
impression  of  accepting  his  advances,  of  becoming 
his  accomplice,  of  answering  "yes"  to  this  pressure 
of  the  hand. 

And  she  weighed  the  situation,  accusing  herself  of 
having  been  too  gay  and  too  familiar  at  Royat,  think- 
ing just  now  that  her  sister  was  right,  that  she  was 
compromised,  lost!  The  carriage  rolled  along  the 
road.  Paul  and  Gontran  smoked  in  silence;  the  Mar- 
quis slept;  Christiane  gazed  at  the  stars;  and  Char- 
lotte found  it  hard  to  keep  back  her  tears  —  for  she 
had  swallowed  three  glasses  of  champagne. 

When  they  had  got  back,  Christiane  said  to  her 
father:  "As  it  is  dark,  you  have  to  see  this  young 
girl  home." 

The  Marquis,  without  delay,  offered  her  his  arm, 
and  went  off  with  her. 

Paul  laid  his  hands  on  Gontran's  shoulders,  and 
whispered  in  his  ear:  "Come  and  have  five  minutes' 
talk  with  your  sister  and  myself." 

And  they  went  up  to  the  little  drawing-room 
communicating  with  the  apartments  of  Andermatt  and 
his  wife. 

When  they  were  seated,  Christiane  said:  "  Listen  1 
M.   Paul  and  I  want  to  give  you  a  good  lecture." 

"A  good  lecture!  But  about  what?  I'm  as  wise 
as  an  image  for  want  of  opportunities." 

"Don't  trifle!  You  are  doing  a  very  imprudent 
and  very  dangerous  thing  without  thinking  on  it. 
You  are  compromising  this  young  girl." 


MONT    ORIOL  229 

He  appeared  much  astonished.  "Who  is  that? 
Charlotte?" 

"Yes,  Charlotte!" 

"I'm  compromising  Charlotte? — 1?" 

"Yes,  you  are  compromising  her.  Everyone  here 
is  talking  about  it,  and  this  evening  again  in  the 
park  at  Royat  you  have  been  very  —  very  light.  Isn't 
that  so,  Bretigny?" 

Paul  answered:  "Yes,  Madame,  I  entirely  share 
your  sentiments." 

Gontran  turned  his  chair  around,  bestrode  it  like 
a  horse,  took  a  fresh  cigar,  lighted  it,  then  burst  out 
laughing. 

"Ha!  so  then  I  am  compromising  Charlotte  Oriol?" 

He  waited  a  few  seconds  to  see  the  effect  of  his 
words,  then  added:  "And  who  told  you  1  did  not 
intend  to  marry  her?" 

Christiane  gave  a  start  of  amazement. 

"Marry  her?    You?    Why,  you're  mad!" 

"Why  so?" 

"That  — that  little  peasant  girl!" 

"Tra!  la!  la!  Prejudices!  Is  it  from  your  husband 
you  learned  them?" 

As  she  made  no  response  to  this  direct  argument, 
he  went  on,  putting  both  questions  and  answers  him- 
self: 

"Is  she  pretty? — Yes!  Is  she  well  educated?  — 
Yes!  And  more  ingenuous,  more  simple,  and  more 
honest  than  girls  in  good  society.  She  knows  as 
much  as  another,  for  she  can  speak  both  English  and 
the  language  of  Auvergne  —  that  makes  two  foreign 
languages.  She  will  be  as  rich  as  any  heiress  of  the 
Faubourg    Saint-Germain  —  as    it    was   formerly   called 


230  WORKS  OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

(they  are  now  going  to  christen  it  Faubourg  Sainte- 
Deche) — and  finally,  if  she  is  a  peasant's  daughter, 
she'll  be  only  all  the  more  healthy  to  present  me 
with  fine  children.     Enough!" 

As  he  had  always  the  appearance  of  laughing  and 
jesting,  Christiane  asked  hesitatingly:  "Come!  are 
you  speaking  seriously?" 

"Faith,  I  am!  She  is  charming,  this  little  girl! 
She  has  a  good  heart  and  a  pretty  face,  a  genial 
character  and  a  good  temper,  rosy  cheeks,  bright 
eyes,  white  teeth,  ruby  lips,  and  flowing  tresses, 
glossy,  thick,  and  full  of  soft  folds.  And  then  her 
vinedressing  father  will  be  as  rich  as  Croesus,  thanks 
to  your  husband,  my  dear  sister.  What  more  do  you 
want?  The  daughter  of  a  peasant!  Well,  is  not  the 
daughter  of  a  peasant  as  good  as  any  of  those  money- 
lenders' daughters  who  pay  such  high  prices  for 
dukes  with  doubtful  titles,  or  any  of  the  daughters 
born  of  aristocratic  prostitution  whom  the  Empire  has 
given  us,  or  any  of  the  daughters  with  double  sires 
whom  we  meet  in  society?  Why,  if  I  did  marry  this 
girl  I  should  be  doing  the  first  wise  and  rational  act 
of  my  life!" 

Christiane  reflected,  then,  all  of  a  sudden,  con- 
vinced, overcome,  delighted,  she  exclaimed: 

"Why,  all  you  have  said  is  true!  It  is  quite  true, 
quite  right!  So  then  you  are  going  to  marry  her,  my 
little  Gontran?" 

It  was  he  who  now  sought  to  moderate  her  ardor. 
"Not  so  quick  —  not  so  quick  —  let  me  reflect  in  my 
turn.  1  only  declare  that,  if  I  did  marry  her,  I  would 
be  doing  the  first  wise  and  rational  act  of  my  life. 
That  does  not  go  so  far   as   saying   that  1  will  marry 


MONTORIOL  231 

her;  but  I  am  thinking  over  it;  I  am  studying  her,  I 
am  paying  her  a  little  attention  to  see  if  I  can  like 
her  sufficiently.  In  short,  I  don't  answer  'yes'  or 
'no,'  but  it  is  nearer  to  'yes'  than  to  'no.'" 

Christiane  turned  toward  Paul:  "What  do  you 
think  of  it.  Monsieur  Bretigny?" 

She  called  him  at  one  time  Monsieur  Bretigny,  and 
at  another  time  Bretigny  only. 

He,  always  f^iscinated  by  the  things  in  which  he 
imagined  he  saw  an  element  of  greatness,  by  unequal 
matches  which  seemed  to  him  to  exhibit  generosity, 
by  all  the  sentimental  parade  in  which  the  human 
heart  masks  itself,  replied:  "For  my  part  I  think  he 
is  right  in  this.  If  he  likes  her,  let  him  marry  her; 
he  could  not  find  better." 

But,  the  Marquis  and  Andermatt  having  returned, 
they  had  to  talk  about  other  subjects;  and  the  two 
young  men  went  to  the  Casino  to  see  whether  the 
gaming-room  was  still  open. 

From  that  day  forth  Christiane  and  Paul  appeared 
to  favor  Gontran's  open  courtship  of  Charlotte. 

The  young  girl  was  more  frequently  invited  to  the 
hotel  by  Christiane,  and  was  treated  in  fact  as  if  she 
were  already  a  member  of  the  family.  She  saw  all 
this  clearly,  understood  it,  and  was  quite  delighted  at 
it.  Her  little  head  throbbed  like  a  drum,  and  went 
building  fantastic  castles  in  Spain.  Gontran,  in  the 
meantime  had  said  nothing  definite  to  her;  but  his 
demeanor,  all  his  words,  the  tone  that  he  assumed 
with  her,  his  more  serious  air  of  gallantry,  the  caress 
of  his  glance  seemed  every  day  to  keep  repeating 
to  her:  "1  have  chosen  you;  you  are  to  be  my 
wife." 


2j^2 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 


And  the  tone  of  sweet  affection,  of  discreet  self- 
surrender,  of  chaste  reserve  which  she  now  adopted 
toward  him,  seemed  to  give  this  answer:  "I  know 
it,  and  I'll  say  'yes'  whenever  you  ask  for  my  hand." 

In  the  young  girl's  family,  the  matter  was  dis- 
cussed in  confidential  whispers.  Louise  scarcely 
opened  her  lips  now  except  to  annoy  her  with  hurt- 
ful allusions,  with  sharp  and  sarcastic  remarks.  Pere 
Oriol  and  Jacques  appeared  to  be  content. 

She  did  not  ask  herself,  all  the  same,  whether  she 
loved  this  good-looking  suitor,  whose  wife  she  was, 
no  doubt,  destined  to  become.  She  liked  him,  she 
was  constantly  thinking  about  him;  she  considered 
him  handsome,  witty,  elegant  —  she  was  speculating, 
above  all,  on  what  she  would  do  when  she  was 
married  to  him. 

In  Enval  people  had  forgotten  the  malignant  rival- 
ries of  the  physicians  and  the  proprietors  of  springs, 
the  theories  as  to  the  supposed  attachment  of  the 
Duchess  de  Ramas  for  her  doctor,  all  the  scandals 
that  flow  along  with  the  waters  of  thermal  stations, 
in  order  to  occupy  their  minds  entirely  with  this  ex- 
traordinary circumstance  —  that  Count  Gontran  de 
Ravenel  was  going  to  marry  the  younger  of  the  Oriol 
girls. 

When  Gontran  thought  the  moment  had  arrived, 
taking  Andermatt  by  the  arm,  one  morning,  as  they 
were  rising  from  the  breakfast-table,  he  said  to 
him:  "My  dear  fellow,  strike  while  the  iron  is  hot! 
Here  is  the  exact  state  of  affairs:  The  little  one  is 
waiting  for  me  to  propose,  without  my  having  com- 
mitted myself  at  all;  but,  you  may  be  quite  certain 
she  will  not  refuse  me.     It  is  necessary  to  sound  her 


MONTORIOL  233 

father  about  it  in  such    a   way    as  to  promote,  at  the 
same  time,  your  interests  and  mine." 

Andermatt  replied:  "Make  your  mind  easy.  I'll 
take  that  on  myself.  1  am  going  to  sound  him  this 
very  day  without  compromising  you  and  without 
thrusting  you  forward;  and  when  the  situation  is 
perfectly  clear,  I'll  talk  about  it." 

"Capital!" 

Then,  after  a  few  moments'  silence,  Gontran 
added:  "Hold  on!  This  is  perhaps  my  last  day  of 
bachelorhood.  I  am  going  on  to  Royat,  where  I  saw 
some  acquaintances  of  mine  the  other  day.  I'll  be 
back  to-night,  and  I'll  tap  at  your  door  to  know  the 
result." 

He  saddled  his  horse,  and  proceeded  along  by  the 
mountain,  inhaling  the  pure,  genial  air,  and  some- 
times starting  into  a  gallop  to  feel  the  keen  caress  of 
the  breeze  brushing  the  fresh  skin  of  his  cheek  and 
tickling  his  mustache. 

The  evening-party  at  Royat  was  a  jolly  affair. 
He  met  some  of  his  friends  there  who  had  brought 
girls  along  with  them.  They  lingered  a  long  time  at 
supper;  he  returned  home  at  a  very  late  hour. 
Everyone  had  gone  to  bed  in  the  hotel  of  Mont  Oriol 
when  Gontran  went  to  tap  at  Andermatt's  door. 
There  was  no  answer  at  first;  then,  as  the  knocking 
became  much  louder,  a  hoarse  voice,  the  voice  of 
one  disturbed  while  asleep,  grunted  from  within: 
"Who's  there.?" 

"'Tis  I,  Gontran." 

"Wait  —  I'm  opening  the  door." 

Andermatt  appeared  in  his  nightshirt,  with 
puffed-up  face,  bristling  chin,  and  a  silk   handkerchief 


234  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

tied  round  his  liead.  Then  he  got  back  into  bed,  sat 
down  in  it,  and  with  his  hands  stretched  over 
the  sheets: 

"Well,  my  dear  fellow,  this  won't  do  me.  Here 
is  how  matters  stand:  1  have  sounded  this  old  fox 
Oriol,  without  mentioning  you,  referring  merely  to  a 
certain  friend  of  mine  —  1  have  perhaps  allowed  him 
to  suppose  that  the  person  1  meant  was  Paul  Bre- 
tigny  —  as  a  suitable  match  for  one  of  his  daughters, 
and  1  asked  what  dowry  he  would  give  her.  He 
answered  me  by  asking  in  his  turn  what  were  the 
young  man's  means;  and  I  fixed  the  amount  at  three 
hundred  thousand  francs  with  expectations." 

"But  1  have  nothing,"  muttered  Gontran. 

"1  am  lending  you  the  money,  my  dear  fellow. 
If  we  work  this  business  between  us,  your  lands 
would  yield  me  enough  to  reimburse  me." 

Gontran  sneered:  "All  right.  I'll  have  the 
woman  and  you  the  money." 

But  Andermatt  got  quite  annoyed.  "If  I  am  to 
interest  myself  in  your  affairs  in  order  that  you  might 
insult  me,  there's  an  end  of  it  —  let  us  say  no  more 
about  it!" 

Gontran  apologized:  "Don't  get  vexed,  my  dear 
fellow,  and  excuse  me!  1  know  that  you  are  a  very 
honest  man  of  irreproachable  loyalty  in  matters  of 
business.  I  would  not  ask  you  for  the  price  of  a 
drink  if  1  were  your  coachman;  but  I  would  intrust 
my  fortune  to  you  if  1  were  a  millionaire." 

William,  less  excited,  rejoined:  "We'll  return 
presently  to  that  subject.  Let  us  first  dispose  of  the 
principal  question.  The  old  man  was  not  taken  in 
by  my  wiles,  and  said    to   me  in    reply:     'It  depends 


MONT    ORIOL  235 

on  which  of  them  is  the  girl  you're  talking  about. 
If  'tis  Louise,  the  elder  one,  here's  her  dowry.'  And 
he  enumerated  for  me  all  the  lands  that  are  around 
the  establishment,  those  which  are  between  the  baths 
and  the  hotel  and  between  the  hotel  and  the  Casino, 
all  those,  in  short,  which  are  indispensable  to  us, 
those  which  have  for  me  an  inestimable  value.  He 
gives,  on  the  contrary,  to  the  younger  girl  the  other 
side  of  the  mountain,  which  will  be  worth  as  much 
money  later  on,  no  doubt,  but  which  is  worth  noth- 
ing to  me.  1  tried  in  every  possible  way  to  make 
him  modify  their  partition  and  invert  the  lots.  1  was 
only  knocking  my  head  against  the  obstinacy  of  a 
mule.  He  will  not  change;  he  has  fixed  his  resolu- 
tion.    Reflect  —  what  do  you  think  of  it?" 

Gontran,  much  troubled,  much  perplexed,  replied: 
"What  do  you  think  of  it  yourself.^  Do  you  believe 
that  he  was  thinking  of  me  in  thus  distributing  the 
shares  in  the  land  ?  " 

"I  haven't  a  doubt  of  it.  The  clown  said  to  him- 
self: 'As  he  likes  the  younger  one,  let  us  take  care 
of  the  bag.'  He  hopes  to  give  you  his  daughter 
while  keeping  his  best  lands.  And  again  perhaps  his 
object  is  to  give  the  advantage  to  the  elder  girl.  He 
prefers  her — who  knows?  —  she  is  more  like  him- 
self—  she  is  more  cunning  —  more  artful  —  more 
practical.  I  believe  she  is  a  strapping  lass,  this  one 
—  for  my  part,  if  I  were  in  your  place,  I  would 
change  my  stick  from  one  shoulder  to  the  other." 

But  Gontran,  stunned,  began  muttering:  "The 
devil!  the  devil!  the  devil!  And  Charlotte's  lands  — 
you  don't  want  them  ?  " 

Andermatt  exclaimed:  "I  —  no — a  thousand  times. 


236  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

no!  I  want  those  which  are  close  to  my  baths,  my 
hotel,  and  my  Casino.  It  is  very  simple,  I  wouldn't 
give  anything  for  the  others,  which  could  only  be 
sold,  at  a  later  period,  in  small  lots  to  private  indi- 
viduals." 

Gontran  kept  still  repeating:  "The  devil!  the 
devil!  the  devil!  here's  a  plaguy  business!  So  then 
you  advise  me  ?" 

"\  don't  advise  you  at  all.  1  think  you  would  do 
well  to  reflect  before  deciding  between  the  two 
sisters." 

"Yes  —  yes  —  that's  true  —  1  will  reflect  —  I  am 
going  to  sleep  first  —  that  brings   counsel." 

He  rose  up;  Andermatt  held  him  back. 

"Excuse  me,  my  dear  boy!  —  a  word  or  two  on 
another  matter.  1  may  not  appear  to  understand,  but 
1  understand  very  well  the  allusions  with  which  you 
sting  me  incessantly,  and  1  don't  want  any  more  of 
them.  You  reproach  me  with  being  a  Jew  —  that  is 
to  say,  with  making  money,  with  being  avaricious, 
with  being  a  speculator,  so  as  to  come  close  to  sheer 
swindling.  Now,  my  friend,  I  spend  my  life  in  lend- 
ing you  this  money  that  1  make — not  without  trouble 
—  or  rather  in  giving  it  to  you.  However,  let  that 
be!  But  there  is  one  point  that  I  don't  admit!  No,  1 
am  not  avaricious.  The  proof  of  it  is  that  1  have  made 
presents  to  your  sister,  presents  of  twenty  thousand 
francs  at  a  time,  that  1  gave  your  father  a  Theodore 
Rousseau  worth  ten  thousand  francs,  to  which  he 
took  a  fancy,  and  that  1  presented  you,  when  you 
were  coming  here,  with  the  horse  on  which  you 
rode  a  little  while  ago  to  Royat.  In  what  then  am  I 
avaricious  ?     In    not   letting   myself  be   robbed.      And 


MONT    ORIOL  237 

we  are  all  like  that  among  my  race,  and  we  are 
right,  Monsieur.  I  want  to  say  it  to  you  once  for 
all.  We  are  regarded  as  misers  because  we  know 
the  exact  value  of  things.  For  you  a  piano  is  a 
piano,  a  chair  is  a  chair,  a  pair  of  trousers  is  a  pair 
of  trousers.  For  us  also,  but  it  represents,  at  the 
same  time,  a  value,  a  mercantile  value  appreciable 
and  precise,  which  a  practical  man  should  estimate 
with  a  single  glance,  not  through  stinginess,  but  in 
order  not  to  countenance  fraud.  What  would  you 
say  if  a  tobacconist  asked  you  four  sous  for  a  post- 
age-stamp or  for  a  box  of  wax-matches  ?  You 
would  go  to  look  for  a  policeman.  Monsieur,  for  one 
sou,  yes,  for  one  sou  —  so  indignant  would  you  be! 
And  that  because  you  knew,  by  chance,  the  value  of 
these  two  articles.  Well,  as  for  me,  I  know  the  value 
of  all  salable  articles;  and  that  indignation  which 
would  take  possession  of  you,  if  you  were  asked 
four  sous  for  a  postage-stamp,  I  experience  when  I 
am  asked  twenty  francs  for  an  umbrella  which  is 
worth  fifteen!  I  protest  against  the  established  theft, 
ceaseless  and  abominable,  of  merchants,  servants,  and 
coachmen.  I  protest  against  the  commercial  dishon- 
esty of  all  your  race  which  despises  us.  I  give  the 
price  of  a  drink  which  I  am  bound  to  give  for  a 
service  rendered,  and  not  that  which  as  the  result  of 
a  whim  you  fling  away  without  knowing  why,  and 
which  ranges  from  five  to  a  hundred  sous  according 
to  the  caprice  of  your  temper!     Do  you  understand.^" 

Gontran  had  risen   by  this  time,  and  smiling  with 
that  refined  irony  which  came  happily   from  his  lips: 

"Yes,  my  dear  fellow,  I  understand,  and   you  are 
perfectly  right,  and  so  much   the  more    right  because 


238 


WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 


my  grandfather,  the  old  Marquis  de  Ravenel,  scarcely 
left  anything  to  my  poor  father  in  consequence  of  the 
bad  habit  which  he  had  of  never  picking  up  the 
change  handed  to  him  by  the  shopkeepers  when  he 
was  paying  for  any  article  whatsoever.  He  thought 
that  unworthy  of  a  gentleman,  and  always  gave  the 
round  sum  and  the  entire  coin." 

And  Gontran  went  out  with  a  self-satisfied  air. 


CHAPTER     XI. 


A  Mutual   Understanding 


T 


•HEY  were  just     ready  to  go  in  to 
dinner,  on  the  following  day,  in 
the    private   dining-room    of  the 
p*  Andermatt  and  Ravenel  families,  when 
^    Gontran  opened  the  door  announcing 
the  "Mesdemoiselles  Oriol." 
;  They    entered,  with    an    air   of  con- 

straint, pushed  forward  by  Gontran,  who 
laughed  while  he  explained: 
"Here    they    are!     1    have    carried    them 
t-^ii,Ky   both    off    through    the    middle    of   the   street. 
^y3^ '  Moreover,  it  excited  public  attention.     I  brought 
^  -'  them    here   by  force   to   you   because    I  want   to 
explain  myself  to  Madame  Louise,  and  could   not 
do  so  in  the  open  air." 

He  took  from  them  their  hats  and  their  parasols, 
which  they  were  still  carrying,  as  they  had  been  on 
their  way  back  from  a  promenade,  made  them  sit 
down,  embraced  his  sister,  pressed  the  hands  of  his 
father,  of  his  brother-in-law,  and  of  Paul,  and  then, 
approaching  Louise  Oriol  once  more,  said: 

"Here  now,  Mademoiselle,  kindly  tell  me  what 
you  have  against  me  for  some  time  past?" 

(239) 


240  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

She  seemed  scared,  like  a  bird  caught  in  a  net, 
and  carried  away  by  the  hunter. 

"Why,  nothing.  Monsieur,  nothing  at  all!  What 
has  made  you  believe  that?" 

"Oh!  everything.  Mademoiselle,  everything  at  all! 
You  no  longer  come  here  —  you  no  longer  com.e  in 
the  Noah's  Ark  [so  he  had  baptized  the  big  landau]. 
You  assume  a  harsh  tone  whenever  I  meet  you  and 
when  1  speak  to  you." 

"Why,  no,  Monsieur,  1  assure  you!" 

"Why,  yes,  Mam'zelle,  I  declare  to  you!  in  any 
case,  I  don't  want  this  to  continue,  and  1  am  go- 
ing to  make  peace  with  you  this  very  day.  Oh! 
you  know  I  am  obstinate.  There's  no  use  in  your 
looking  black  at  me.  I'll  know  easily  how  to 
get  the  better  of  your  hoity-toity  airs,  and  make 
you  be  nice  toward  your  sister,  who  is  an  angel  of 
grace." 

It  was  announced  that  dinner  was  ready;  and 
they  made  their  way  to  the  dining-room.  Gontran 
took  Louise's  arm  in  his.  He  was  exceedingly  atten- 
tive to  her  and  to  her  sister,  dividing  his  compli- 
ments between  them  with  admirable  tact,  and 
remarking  to  the  younger  girl:  "As  for  you,  you 
are  a  comrade  of  ours  —  1  am  going  to  neglect  you 
for  a  few  days.  One  goes  to  less  expense  for  friends 
than  for  strangers,  you  are  aware." 

And  he  said  to  the  elder:  "As  for  you,  I  want 
to  bewitch  you.  Mademoiselle,  and  I  warn  you  as  a 
loyal  foel  I  will  even  make  love  to  you.  Ha!  you 
are  blushing  —  that's  a  good  sign.  You'll  see  that  I 
am  very  nice,  when  I  take  pains  about  it.  Isn't  that 
so,  Mademoiselle  Charlotte?" 


MONTORIOL  241 

And  they  were  both,  indeed,  blushing,  and  Louise 
stammered  with  her  serious  air:  "Ohl  Monsieur, 
how  foohsh  you  are!" 

He  repHed:  "Bah!  you  will  hear  many  things 
said  by  others  by  and  by  in  society,  when  you  are 
married,  which  will  not  be  long.  'Tis  then  they 
will  really  pay  you  compliments." 

Christiane  and  Paul  Bretigny  expressed  their  ap- 
proval of  his  action  in  having  brought  back  Louise 
Oriol;  the  Marquis  smiled,  amused  by  these  childish 
affectations.  Andermatt  was  thinking:  "He's  no 
fool,  the  sly  dog."  And  Gontran,  irritated  by  the 
part  which  he  was  compelled  to  play,  drawn  by  his 
senses  toward  Charlotte  and  by  his  interests  toward 
Louise,  muttered  between  his  teeth  with  a  sly  smile 
in  her  direction:  "Ah!  your  rascal  of  a  father 
thought  to  play  a  trick  fupon  me;  but  I  am  going 
to  carry  it  with  a  high  hand  over  you,  my  lassie, 
and  you  will  see  whether  I  won't  go  about  it  the 
right  way! " 

And  he  compared  the  two,  inspecting  them  one 
after  the  other.  Certainly,  he  liked  the  younger  more; 
she  was  more  amusing,  more  lively,  with  her  nose 
tilted  slightly,  her  bright  eyes,  her  straight  forehead, 
and  her  beautiful  teeth  a  little  too  prominent  in  a 
mouth  which  was  somewhat  too  wide. 

However,  the  other  was  pretty,  too,  colder,  less 
gay.  She  would  never  be  lively  or  charming  in  the 
intimate  relations  of  life;  but  when  at  the  opening  of 
a  ball  "the  Comtesse  de  Ravenel "  would  be  an- 
nounced, she  could  carry  her  title  well  —  better  per- 
haps than  her  younger  sister,  when  she  got  a  little 
accustomed  to  it,  and   had   mingled   with    persons   of 

8    G.  de  M.— 16 


242  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

high  birth.  No  matter;  he  was  annoyed.  He  was 
full  of  spite  against  the  father  and  the  brother  also, 
and  he  promised  himself  that  he  would  pay  them  off 
afterward  for  his  mischance  when  he  was  the  master. 
When  they  returned  to  the  drawing-room,  he  got 
Louise  to  read  the  cards,  as  she  was  skilled  in  fore- 
telling the  future.  The  Marquis,  Andermatt,  and 
Charlotte  listened  attentively,  attracted,  in  spite  of 
themselves,  by  the  mystery  of  the  unknown,  by  the 
possibility  of  the  improbable,  by  that  invincible  cre- 
dulity with  reference  to  the  marvelous  which  haunts 
man,  and  often  disturbs  the  strongest  minds  in  the 
presence  of  the  silly  inventions  of  charlatans. 

Paul  and  Christiane  chatted  in  the  recess  of  an 
open  window.  For  some  time  past  she  had  been 
miserable,  feeling  that  she  was  no  longer  loved  in  the 
same  fashion;  and  their  misunderstanding  as  lovers 
was  every  day  accentuated  by  their  mutual  error.  She 
had  suspected  this  unfortunate  state  of  things  for  the 
first  time  on  the  evening  of  the  fete  when  she  brought 
Paul  along  the  road.  But  while  she  understood  that 
he  had  no  longer  the  same  tenderness  in  his  look, 
the  same  caress  in  his  voice,  the  same  passionate 
anxiety  about  her  as  in  the  days  of  their  early  love, 
she  had  not  been  able  to  divine  the  cause  of  this 
change. 

It  had  existed  for  a  long  time  now,  ever  since  the 
day  when  she  had  said  to  him  with  a  look  of  happi- 
ness on  reaching  their  daily  meeting-place:  "You 
know,  1  believe  I  am  really  enceinte.'^  He  had  felt 
at  that  moment  an  unpleasant  little  shiver  running  all 
over  his  skin.  Then  at  each  of  their  meetings  she 
would  talk  to  him   about    her   condition,  which  made 


I) 


MONT    ORIOL  243 

her  heart  dance  with  joy;  but  this  preoccupation  with 
a  matter  which  he  regarded  as  vexatious,  ugly,  and 
unclean  clashed  with  his  devoted  exaltation  about  the 
idol  that  he  had  adored.  At  a  later  stage,  when  he 
saw  her  altered,  thin,  her  cheeks  hollow,  her  com- 
plexion yellow,  he  thought  that  she  might  have  spared 
him  that  spectacle,  and  might  have  vanished  for  a 
few  months  from  his  sight,  to  reappear  afterward 
fresher  and  prettier  than  ever,  thus  knowing  how  to 
make  him  forget  this  accident,  or  perhaps  knowing 
how  to  unite  to  her  coquettish  fascinations  as  a  mis- 
tress, another  charm,  the  thoughtful  reserve  of  a  young 
mother,  who  only  allows  her  baby  to  be  seen  at  a 
distance  covered  up  in  red  ribbons. 

She  had,  besides,  a  rare  opportunity  of  displaying 
that  tact  which  he  expected  of  her  by  spending  the 
summer  apart  from  him  at  Mont  Oriol,  and  leaving 
him  in  Paris  so  that  he  might  not  see  her  robbed  of 
her  freshness  and  beauty.  He  had  fondly  hoped  that 
she  might  have  understood  him. 

But,  immediately  on  reaching  Auvergne,  she  had 
appealed  to  him  in  incessant  and  despairing  letters  so 
numerous  and  so  urgent  that  he  had  come  to  her 
through  weakness,  through  pity.  And  now  she  was 
boring  him  to  death  with  her  ungracious  and  lugu- 
brious tenderness;  and  he  felt  an  extreme  longing  to 
get  away  from  her,  to  see  no  more  of  her,  to  listen 
no  longer  to  her  talk  about  love,  so  irritating  and  out 
of  place.  He  would  have  liked  to  tell  her  plainly  all 
that  he  had  in  his  mind,  to  point  out  to  her  how  un- 
skillful and  foolish  she  showed  herself;  but  he  could 
not  bring  himself  to  do  this,  and  he  dared  not  take 
his  departure.     As  a  result  he  could  not  restrain  him- 


-^4  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

self  from   testifying  his    impatience  with  her  in  bitter 
and  hurtful  words. 

She  was  stung  by  them  the  more  because,  every 
day  more  ill,  more  heavy,  tormented  by  all  the  suf- 
ferings of  pregnant  women,  she  had  more  need  than 
ever  of  being  consoled,  fondled,  encompassed  with 
affection.  She  loved  him  with  that  utter  abandon- 
ment of  body  and  soul,  of  her  entire  being,  which 
sometimes  renders  love  a  sacrifice  without  reserva- 
tions and  without  bounds.  She  no  longer  looked 
upon  herself  as  his  mistress,  but  as  his  wife,  his 
companion,  his  devotee,  his  worshiper,  his  prostrate 
slave,  his  chattel.  For  her  there  seemed  no  further  need 
of  any  gallantry,  coquetry,  constant  desire  to  please, 
or  fresh  indulgence  between  them,  since  she  belonged 
to  him  entirely,  since  they  were  linked  together  by 
that  chain  so  sweet  and  so  strong — the  child  which 
would  soon  be  born.  When  they  were  alone  at  the 
window,  she  renewed  her  tender  lamentation:  "Paul, 
my  dear  Paul,  tell  me,  do  you  love  me  as  much  as 
ever?" 

"Yes,  certainly!  Come  now,  you  keep  repeating 
this  every  day  —  it  will  end  by  becoming  monoto- 
nous." 

"Pardon  me.  It  is  because  1  find  it  impossible 
to  believe  it  any  longer,  and  1  want  you  to  reas- 
sure me;  I  want  to  hear  you  saying  it  to  me  forever 
that  word  which  is  so  sweet;  and,  as  you  don't 
repeat  it  to  me  so  often  as  you  used  to  do,  1  am 
compelled  to  ask  for  it,  to  implore  it,  to  beg  for  it 
from  you." 

"Well,  yes,  1  love  you!  But  let  us  talk  of  some- 
thing else,  I  entreat  of  you." 


MONT    ORIOL 


245 


"Ahl  how  hard  you  are!" 

"Why,  no!  I  am  not  hard.  Only  —  only  you  do 
not  understand  —  you  do  not   understand  that  —  " 

"Oh!  yes!  I  understand  well  that  you  no  longer 
love  me.     If  you  knew  how  I  am  suffering! " 

"Come,  Christiane,  I  beg  of  you  not  to  make  me 
nervous.  If  you  knew  yourself  how  awkward  what 
you  are  now  doing  is!" 

"Ah!  if  you  loved  me,  you  would  not  talk  to  me 
in  this  way." 

"But,  deuce  take  it!  if  I  did  not  love  you,  I  would 
not  have  come." 

"Listen.  You  belong  to  me  now.  You  are  mine; 
I  am  yours.  There  is  between  us  that  tie  of  a  bud- 
ding life  which  nothing  can  break;  but  will  you 
promise  me  that,  if  one  day,  you  should  come  to 
love  me  no  more,  you  will  tell  me  so?" 

"Yes,  I  do  promise  you." 

"You  swear  it  to  me?" 

"I  swear  it  to  you." 

"But  then,  all  the  same,  we  would  remain  friends, 
would  we  not?" 

"Certainly,  let  us  remain  friends." 

"On  the  day  when  you  no  longer  regard  me 
with  love  you'll  come  to  find  me  and  you'll  say  to 
me:  'My  little  Christiane,  1  am  very  fond  of  you,  but 
it  is  not  the  same  thing  any  more.  Let  us  be  friends, 
there!  nothing  but  friends.'" 

"That  is  understood;  1  promise  it  to  you." 

"You  swear  it  to  me?" 

"I  swear  it  to  you." 

"No  matter,  it  would  cause  me  great  grief.  How 
you  adored  me  last  year!" 


246  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

A  voice  called  out  behind  them:  "The  Duchess 
de  Ramas-Aldavarra." 

She  had  come  as  a  neighbor,  for  Christiane  held 
receptions  each  day  for  the  principal  bathers,  just  as 
princes  hold  receptions  in  their  kingdoms. 

Doctor  Mazelli  followed  the  lovely  Spaniard  with 
a  smiling  and  submissive  air.  The  two  women 
pressed  one  another's  hands,  sat  down,  and  commenced 
to  chat. 

Andermatt  called  Paul  across  to  him:  "My  dear 
friend  come  here!  Mademoiselle  Oriol  reads  the  cards 
splendidly;  she  has  told  me  some  astonishing  things!" 

He  took  Paul  by  the  arm,  and  added:  "What  an 
odd  being  you  are!  At  Paris,  we  never  saw  you,  even 
once  a  month,  in  spite  of  the  entreaties  of  my  wife. 
Here  it  required  fifteen  letters  to  get  you  to  come. 
And  since  you  have  come,  one  would  think  you  are 
losing  a  million  a  day,  you  look  so  disconsolate. 
Come,  are  you  hearing  any  matter  that  ruffles  you  ? 
We  might  be  able  to  assist  you.  You  should  tell  us 
about  it." 

"Nothing  at  all,  my  dear  fellow.  If  1  haven't 
visited  you  more  frequently  in  Paris  —  'tis  because  at 
Paris,  you  understand  —  " 

"Perfectly  —  1  grasp  your  meaning.  But  here,  at 
least,  you  ought  to  be  in  good  spirits.  I  am  prepar- 
ing for  you  two  or  three  fetes,  which  will,  I  am 
sure,  be  very  successful." 

"Madame  Barre  and    Professor  Cloche"  were    an- 
nounced.    He    entered    with    his    daughter,    a    young 
widow,  red-haired   and   bold-faced.     Then,    almost   in 
the    same   breath,    the    manservant   called   out:    "Pro 
fessor  Mas-Roussel. " 


MONTORIOL  247 

His  wife  accompanied  him,  pale,  worn,  with  flat 
headbands  drawn  over  her  temples. 

Professor  Remusot  had  left  the  day  before,  after 
having,  it  was  said,  purchased  his  chalet  on  excep- 
tionally favorable  conditions. 

The  two  other  doctors  would  have  liked  to  know 
what  these  conditions  were,  but  Andermatt  merely 
said  in  reply  to  them:  "Oh!  we  have  made  little 
advantageous  arrangements  for  everybody.  If  you 
desired  to  follow  his  example,  we  might  see  our 
way  to  a  mutual  understanding  —  we  might  see  our 
way.  When  you  have  made  up  your  mind,  you  can 
let  me  know,  and  then  we'll  talk  about  it." 

Doctor  Latonne  appeared  in  his  turn,  then  Doctor 
Honorat,  without  his  wife,  whom  he  did  not  bring 
with  him.  A  din  of  voices  now  filled  the  drawing- 
room,  the  loud  buzz  of  conversation.  Gontran  never 
left  Louise  Oriol's  side,  put  his  head  over  her 
shoulder  in  addressing  her,  and  said  with  a  laugh 
every  now  and  again  to  whoever  was  passing  near 
him:  "This  is  an  enemy  of  whom  I  am  making  a 
conquest." 

Mazelli  took  a  seat  beside  Professor  Cloche's 
daughter.  For  some  days  he  had  been  constantly 
following  her  about;  and  she  had  received  his  ad- 
vances with  provoking  audacity. 

The  Duchess,  who  kept  him  well  in  view,  ap- 
peared irritated  and  trembling.  Suddenly  she  rose, 
crossed  the  drawing-room,  and  interrupted  her  doc- 
tor's confidential  chat  with  the  pretty  red-haired 
widow,  saying:  "Come,  Mazelli,  we  are  going  to 
retire.     I  feel  rather  ill  at  ease." 

As    soon    as    they    had   gone   out,  Christiane   drew 


248  WORKS  OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

close  to  Paul's  side,  and  said  to  him:     "Poor  woman! 
she  must  suffer  so  much!" 

He  asked  heedlessly:     "Who,  pray?" 

"The  Duchess!     You  don't  see  how  jealous  she  is." 

He  replied  abruptly:  "If  you  begin  to  groan  over 
everything  you  can  lay  hold  of  now,  you'll  have  no 
end  of  weeping." 

She  turned  away,  ready,  indeed,  to  shed  tears,  so 
cruel  did  she  find  him,  and,  sitting  down  near  Char- 
lotte Oriol,  who  was  all  alone  in  a  dazed  condition,  un- 
able to  comprehend  the  meaning  of  Gontran's  conduct, 
she  said  to  the  young  girl,  without  letting  the  latter 
realize  what  her  words  conveyed:  "There  are  days 
when  one  would  like  to  be  dead." 

Andermatt,  in  the  midst  of  the  doctors,  was  re- 
lating the  extraordinary  case  of  Pere  Clovis,  whose 
legs  were  beginning  to  come  to  life  again.  He  ap- 
peared so  thoroughly  convinced  that  nobody  could 
doubt  his  good  faith. 

Since  he  had  seen  through  the  trick  of  the  peas- 
ants and  the  paralytic,  understood  that  he  had  let 
himself  be  duped  and  persuaded,  the  year  before, 
through  the  sheer  desire  to  believe  in  the  efficacy  of 
the  waters  with  which  he  had  been  bitten,  since, 
above  all,  he  had  not  been  able  to  free  himself,  with- 
out paying,  from  the  formidable  complaints  of  the  old 
man,  he  had  converted  it  into  a  strong  advertisement, 
and  worked  it  wonderfully  well. 

Mazelli  had  just  come  back,  after  having  accom- 
panied his  patient  to  her  own  apartments. 

Gontran  caught  hold  of  his  arm:  "Tell  me  your 
opinion,  my  good  doctor.  Which  of  the  Oriol  girls 
do  you  prefer?  " 


MONT    ORIOL 


249 


The  handsome  physician  whispered  in  his  ear: 
"The  younger  one,  to  love;  the  elder  one,  to  marry." 

"Look  at  that!  We  are  exactly  of  the  same  way 
of  thinking.     1  am  delighted  at  it!" 

Then,  going  over  to  his  sister,  who  was  still  talk- 
ing to  Charlotte:  "You  are  not  aware  of  it  ?  1  have 
made  up  my  mind  that  we  are  to  visit  the  Puy  de  la 
Nugere  on  Thursday.  It  is  the  finest  crater  of  the 
chain.     Everyone  consents.     It  is  a  settled  thing." 

Christiane  murmured  with  an  air  of  indifference: 
"1  consent  to  anything  you  like." 

But  Professor  Cloche,  followed  by  his  daughter, 
was  about  to  take  his  leave,  and  Mazelli,  offering  to 
see  them  home,  started  off  behind  the  young  widow. 
In  five  minutes,  everyone  had  left,  for  Christiane 
went  to  bed  at  eleven  o'clock.  The  Marquis,  Paul, 
and  Gontran  accompanied  the  Oriol  girls.  Gontran 
and  Louise  walked  in  front,  and  Bretigny,  some  paces 
behind  them,  felt  Charlotte's  arm  trembling  a  little  as 
it  leaned  on  his. 

They  separated  with  the  agreement:  "On  Thurs- 
day at  eleven  for  breakfast  at  the  hotel!" 

On  their  way  back  they  met  Andermatt,  detained  in 
a  corner  of  the  park  by  Professor  Mas-Roussel,  who 
was  saying  to  him:  "Well,  if  it  does  not  put  you 
about,  I'll  come  and  have  a  chat  with  you  to-morrow 
morning  about  that  little  business  of  the  chalet." 

William  joined  the  young  men  to  go  in  with 
them,  and,  drawing  himself  up  to  his  brother-in-law's 
ear,  said:  "My  best  compliments,  my  dear  boy!  You 
have  acted  your  part  admirably." 

Gontran,  for  the  past  two  years,  had  been 
harassed    by    pecuniary    embarrassments     which    had 


250  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

spoiled  his  existence.  So  long  as  he  was  spending 
the  share  which  came  to  him  from  his  mother,  he 
had  allowed  his  Hfe  to  pass  in  that  carelessness  and 
indifference  which  he  inherited  from  his  father,  in  the 
midst  of  those  young  men,  rich,  blasd,  and  corrupted, 
whose  doings  we  read  about  every  morning  in  the 
newspapers,  who  belong  to  the  world  of  fashion  but 
mingle  in  it  very  little,  preferring  the  society  of 
women  of  easy  virtue  and  purchasable  hearts. 

There  were  a  dozen  of  them  in  the  same  set,  who 
were  to  be  found  every  night  at  the  same  caf^  on 
the  boulevard  between  midnight  and  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  Very  well  dressed,  always  in  black 
coats  and  white  waistcoats,  wearing  shirt-buttons 
worth  twenty  louis  changed  every  month,  and  bought 
in  one  of  the  principal  jewelers'  shops,  they  lived 
careless  of  everything,  save  amusing  themselves,  pick- 
ing up  women,  making  them  a  subject  of  talk,  and 
getting  money  by  every    possible  means. 

As  the  only  things  they  had  any  knowledge  of 
were  the  scandals  of  the  night  before,  the  echoes  of 
alcoves  and  stables,  duels  and  stories  about  gambling 
transactions,  the  entire  horizon  of  their  thoughts  was 
shut  in  by  these  barriers.  They  had  had  all  the 
women  who  were  for  sale  in  the  market  of  gallantry, 
had  passed  them  through  their  hands,  given  them 
up,  exchanged  them  with  one  another,  and  talked 
among  themselves  as  to  their  erotic  qualities  as  they 
might  have  talked  about  the  qualities  of  race-horses. 
They  also  associated  with  people  of  rank  whose 
voluptuous  habits  excited  comment  and  whose  women 
nearly  all  kept  up  intrigues  which  were  matters  of 
notoriety,  under   the   eyes  of  husbands   indifferent   or 


MONT    ORIOL 


251 


averted  or  closed  or  devoid  of  perception;  and  they 
passed  judgment  on  these  women  as  on  the  others, 
forming  much  the  same  estimate  about  them,  save 
that  they  made  a  slight  distinction  on  the  grounds  of 
birth  and  social  position. 

By  dint  of  resorting  to  dodges  to  get  the  money 
necessary  for  the  life  which  they  led,  outwitting 
usurers,  borrowing  on  all  sides,  putting  off  trades- 
men, laughing  in  the  faces  of  their  tailors  when  pre- 
sented with  a  big  bill  every  six  months,  listening  to 
girls  telling  about  the  infamies  they  perpetrated  in 
order  to  gratify  their  feminine  greed,  seeing  system- 
atic cheating  at  clubs,  knowing  and  feeling  that  they 
were  individually  robbed  by  everyone,  by  servants, 
merchants,  keepers  of  big  restaurants  and  others,  be- 
coming acquainted  with  certain  sharp  practices  and 
shady  transactions  in  which  they  themselves  had  a 
hand  in  order  to  knock  out  a  few  louis,  their  moral 
sense  had  become  blunted,  used  up,  and  their  sole 
point  of  honor  consisted  in  fighting  duels  when  they 
realized  that  they  were  suspected  of  all  the  things 
of  which  they  were  either  capable  or   actually  guilty. 

Everyone  of  these  young  roues,  after  some  years 
of  this  existence,  ended  with  a  rich  marriage,  or  a 
scandal,  or  a  suicide,  or  a  mysterious  disappearance 
as  complete  as  death.  But  they  put  their  principal  reli- 
ance on  the  rich  marriage.  Some  trusted  to  their 
families  to  procure  such  a  thing  for  them;  others  looked 
out  themselves  for  it  without  letting  it  be  noticed;  and 
they  had  lists  of  heiresses  just  as  people  have  lists  of 
houses  for  sale.  They  kept  their  eyes  fixed  especially 
on  the  exotics,  the  Americans  of  the  north  and  of 
the    south,  whom    they   dazzled   by    their  "chic,"   by 


252  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE    MAUPASSANT 

their  reputation  as  fast  men,  by  talk  about  their  suc- 
cesses, and  by  the  elegance  of  their  persons.  And 
their  tradesmen  also  placed  reliance  on  the  rich  mar- 
riage. 

But  this  hunt  after  the  girl  with  a  fortune  was 
bound  to  be  protracted.  In  any  case  it  involved  in- 
quiries, the  trouble  of  winning  a  female  heart,  fa- 
tigues, visits,  all  that  exercise  of  energy  of  which 
Gontran,  careless  by  nature,  remained  utterly  incapa- 
ble. For  a  long  time  past,  he  had  been  saying  to 
himself,  feeling  each  day  more  keenly  the  unpleasant- 
ness of  impecuniosity:  "I  must,  for  all  that,  think 
over  it."  But  he  did  not  think  over  it,  and  so  he 
found  nothing.  He  had  been  reduced  to  the  ingen- 
ious pursuit  of  paltry  sums,  to  all  the  questionable 
steps  of  people  at  the  end  of  their  resources,  and,  to 
crown  all,  to  long  sojourns  in  the  family,  when 
Andermatt  had  suddenly  suggested  to  him  the  idea 
of  marrying  one  of  the  Oriol  girls. 

He  had,  at  first,  said  nothing  through  prudence, 
although  the  young  girl  appeared  to  him,  at  first 
blush,  too  much  beneath  him  for  him  to  consent  to 
such  an  unequal  match.  But  a  few  minutes'  reflec- 
tion had  very  speedily  modified  his  view;  and  he 
forthwith  made  up  his  mind  to  make  love  to  her  in 
a  bantering  sort  of  way  —  the  love-making  of  a  spa  — 
which  would  not  compromise  him,  and  would  permit 
him  to  back  out  of  it. 

Thoroughly  acquainted  with  his  brother-in-law's 
character,  he  knew  that  this  proposition  must  have 
been  cogitated  for  a  long  time,  and  weighed  and 
matured  by  him — that  she  meant  to  him  a  valuable 
prize  such  as  it  would  be  hard  to  find  elsewhere. 


MONT    ORIOL 


255 


It  would  cost  him  no  trouble  but  that  of  stooping 
down  and  picking  up  a  pretty  girl,  for  he  liked  the 
younger  sister  very  much,  and  he  had  often  said  to 
himself  that  she  would  be  nice  to  associate  with  later 
on.  He  had  accordingly  selected  Charlotte  Oriol; 
and  in  a  little  time  would  have  brought  matters  to 
the  point  when  a  regular  proposal  might  have  been 
made  to  her. 

Now,  as  the  father  was  bestowing  on  his  other 
daughter  the  dowry  coveted  by  Andermatt,  Gontran 
had  either  to  renounce  this  union  or  turn  round  to 
the  elder  sister.  He  felt  intense  dissatisfaction  with 
this  state  of  affairs  and  he  had  been  thinking  in  his 
first  moments  of  vexation  of  sending  his  brother-in- 
law  to  the  devil  and  remaining  a  bachelor  until  a 
fresh  opportunity  arose.  But  just  at  that  very  time 
he  found  himself  quite  cleaned  out,  so  that  he  had  to 
ask,  for  his  play  at  the  Casino,  a  sum  of  twenty-five 
louis  from  Paul,  after  many  similar  loans,  which  he 
had  never  paid  back.  And  again,  he  would  have  to 
look  for  a  rich  wife,  find  her,  and  captivate  her, 
while  without  any  change  of  place,  with  only  a  few 
days  of  attention  and  gallantry,  he  could  capture  the 
elder  of  the  Oriol  girls  just  as  he  had  been  able  to 
make  a  conquest  of  the  younger.  In  this  way  he 
would  make  sure  in  his  brother-in-law  of  a  banker 
whom  he  might  render  always  responsible,  on  whom 
he  might  cast  endless  reproaches,  and  whose  cash- 
box  would  always  be  open  for  him. 

As  for  his  wife,  he  could  bring  her  to  Paris,  and 
there  introduce  her  into  society  as  the  daughter  of 
Andermatt's  partner.  Moreover,  she  bore  the  name 
of  the  spa,  to  which  he  would  never  bring  her  back! 


254 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


Never!  never!  in  virtue  of  the  natural  law  that  streams 
do  not  return  to  their  sources.  She  had  a  nice  face 
and  figure,  sufficiently  distinguished  already  to  become 
entirely  so,  sufficiently  intelligent  to  understand  the 
ways  of  society,  to  hold  her  own  in  it,  to  make  a 
good  show  in  it,  and  even  to  do  him  honor.  People 
would  say:  "This  joker  here  has  married  a  lovely 
girl,  at  whom  he  looks  as  if  he  were  not  making  a 
bad  joke  of  it."  And  he  would  not  make  a  bad  joke 
of  it,  in  fact,  for  he  counted  on  resuming  by  her 
side  his  bachelor  existence  with  the  money  in  his 
pockets. 

So  he  turned  toward  Louise  Oriol,  and,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  jealousy  awakened  in  the  skittish 
heart  of  the  young  girl,  without  being  aware  of  it, 
had  excited  in  her  a  coquetry  which  had  hitherto 
slumbered,  and  a  vague  desire  to  take  away  from  her 
sister  this  handsome  lover  whom  people  addressed  as 
"Monsieur  le  Comte." 

She  had  not  said  this  in  her  own  mind.  She  had 
neither  thought  it  out  nor  contrived  it,  being  sur- 
prised at  their  being  thrown  together  and  going  off 
in  one  another's  company.  But  when  she  saw  him 
assiduous  and  gallant  toward  her,  she  felt  from  his 
demeanor,  from  his  glances,  and  his  entire  attitude, 
that  he  was  not  enamored  of  Charlotte,  and  without 
trying  to  see  beyond  that,  she  was  in  a  happy,  joy- 
ous, almost  triumphant  frame  of  mind  as  she  lay 
down  to  sleep. 

They  hesitated  for  a  long  time  on  the  following 
Thursday  before  starting  for  the  Puy  de  la  Nugere. 
The  gloomy  sky  and  the  heavy  atmosphere  made 
them     anticipate     rain.      But     Gontran     insisted     so 


MONT    ORIOL  2<y<y 

Strongly  on  going  that  he  carried  the  waverers  along 
with  him.  The  breakfast  was  a  melancholy  affair. 
Christiane  and  Paul  had  quarreled  the  night  before, 
without  apparent  cause.  Andermatt  was  afraid  that 
Gontran's  marriage  might  not  take  place,  for  Pere 
Oriol  had,  that  very  morning,  spoken  of  him  in 
equivocal  terms.  Gontran,  on  being  informed  of  this, 
got  angry  and  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  suc- 
ceed. Charlotte,  foreseeing  her  sister's  triumph,  with- 
out at  all  understanding  this  transfer  of  Gontran's 
affections,  strongly  desired  to  remain  in  the  village. 
With  some  difficulty  they  prevailed  on  her   to    come. 

Accordingly  the  Noah's  Ark  carried  its  full  num- 
ber of  ordinary  passengers  in  the  direction  of  the 
high  plateau  which  looks  down  on  Volvic.  Louise 
Oriol,  suddenly  becoming  loquacious,  acted  as  their 
guide  along  the  road.  She  explained  how  the  stone 
of  Volvic,  which  is  nothing  else  but  the  lava-current 
of  the  surrounding  peaks,  had  helped  to  build  all  the 
churches  and  all  the  houses  in  the  district  —  a  cir- 
cumstance which  gives  to  the  towns  in  Auvergne  the 
dark  and  charred-looking  aspect  that  they  present. 

She  pointed  out  the  yards  where  this  stone  was 
cut,  showed  them  the  molten  rock  that  was  worked 
as  a  quarry,  from  which  was  extracted  the  rough 
lava,  and  made  them  view  with  admiration,  standing 
on  a  hilltop  and  bending  over  Volvic,  the  immense 
black  Virgin  who  protects  the  town.  Then  they 
ascended  toward  the  upper  plateau,  embossed  with 
extinct  volcanoes.  The  horses  went  at  a  walking 
pace  over  the  long  and  toilsome  road.  Their  path 
was  bordered  with  beautiful  green  woods,  and  no- 
body talked  any  longer. 


256  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Christiane  was  thinking  about  Tazenat.  It  was 
the  same  carriage;  they  were  the  same  persons;  but 
their  hearts  were  no  longer  the  same.  Everything 
seemed  as  it  had  been  —  and  yet?  and  yet?  What 
then  had  happened?  Ahnost  nothing.  A  little  love 
the  more  on  her  part!  A  little  love  the  less  on  his! 
Almost  nothing  —  the  invisible  rent  which  weariness 
makes  in  an  intimate  attachment  —  oh!  almost  noth- 
ing—  and  the  look  in  the  changed  eyes,  because  the 
same  eyes  no  longer  saw  the  same  faces  in  the 
same  way.  What  is  this  but  a  look  ?  Almost  noth- 
ing! 

The  coachman  drew  up,  and  said:  "It  is  here, 
at  the  right,  through  that  path  in  the  wood.  You 
have  only  to  follow  it  in  order  to  get  there. 

All  descended,  save  the  Marquis,  who  thought  the 
weather  too  warm.  Louise  and  Gontran  went  on  in 
front,  and  Charlotte  remained  behind  with  Paul  and 
Christiane,  who  found  difficulty  in  walking.  The 
path  appeared  to  them  long,  right  through  the  wood; 
then  they  reached  a  crest  covered  with  tall  grass 
which  led  by  a  steep  ascent  to  the  sides  of  the  old 
crater.  Louise  and  Gontran,  halting  when  they  got 
to  the  top,  both  looking  tall  and  slender,  had  the 
appearance  of  standing  in  the  clouds.  When  the 
others  had  come  up  with  them,  Paul  Bretigny's  en- 
thusiastic soul  was  inflamed  with  poetic  rapture. 

Around  them,  behind  them,  to  right,  to  left,  they 
were  surrounded  by  strange  cones,  decapitated,  some 
shooting  forth,  others  crushed  into  a  mass,  but  all 
preserving  their  fantastic  physiognomy  of  dead  vol- 
canoes. These  heavy  fragments  of  mountains  with 
flat   summits    rose   from    south    to  west  along  an  im- 


MONT    ORIOL  257 

mense  plateau  of  desolate  appearance,  which,  itself  a 
thousand  meters  above  the  Limagne,  looked  down 
upon  it,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  toward  the 
east  and  the  north,  on  to  the  invisible  horizon,  al- 
ways veiled,  always  blue. 

The  Puy  de  Dome,  at  the  right,  towered  above  all 
its  fellows,  with  from  seventy  to  eighty  craters  now 
gone  to  sleep.  Further  on  were  the  Puy  de  Grave- 
noire,  the  Puy  de  Crouel,  the  Puy  de  la  Pedge,  the 
Puy  de  Sault,  the  Puy  de  Noschamps,  the  Puy  de  la 
Vache.  Nearer,  were  the  Puy  de  Come,  the  Puy  de 
Jumes,  the  Puy  de  Tressoux,  the  Puy  de  Louchadiere 
—  a  vast  cemetery  of  volcanoes. 

The  young  men  gazed  at  the  scene  in  amazement. 
At  their  feet  opened  the  first  crater  of  La  Nugere,  a 
deep  grassy  basin  at  the  bottom  of  which  could  be 
seen  three  enormous  blocks  of  brown  lava,  lifted  up 
with  the  monster's  last  puff  and  then  sunk  once 
more  into  his  throat  as  he  expired,  remaining  there 
from  century  to   century  forever. 

Gontran  exclaimed:  "As  for  me,  I  am  going  down 
to  the  bottom.  1  want  to  see  how  they  give  up  the 
ghost  —  creatures  of  this  sort.  Come  along,  Mesde- 
moiselles,  for  a  little  run  down  the  slope."  And 
seizing  Louise's  arm,  he  dragged  her  after  him. 
Charlotte  followed  them,  running  after  them.  Then, 
all  of  a  sudden,  she  stopped,  watched  them  as  they 
flew  along,  jumping  with  their  arms  linked,  and, 
turning  back  abruptly,  she  reascended  toward  Chris- 
tiane  and  Paul,  who  were  seated  on  the  grass  at  the 
top  of  the  declivity.  When  she  reached  them,  she 
fell  upon  her  knees,  and,  hiding  her  face  in  the  young 
girl's  robe  she  wore,  she  burst  out  sobbing. 

8    G.  de  M.— 17 


258 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


Christiane,  who  understood  what  was  the  matter, 
and  whom  all  the  sorrows  of  others  had,  for  some 
time  past,  pierced  like  wounds  inflicted  upon  herself, 
flung  her  arms  around  the  girl's  neck,  and,  moved 
also  by  her  tears,  murmured:  "Poor  little  thing! 
poor  little  thing!"  The  girl  kept  crying  incessantly, 
and  with  her  hands  dropping  listlessly  to  the  ground, 
she  tore  up  the  grass  unconscious  of  what  she  was 
doing, 

Bretigny  had  risen  up  in  order  to  avoid  the  ap- 
pearance of  having  observed  her,  but  this  misery  en- 
dured by  a  young  girl,  this  distress  of  an  innocent 
creature,  filled  him  suddenly  with  indignation  against 
Gontran.  He,  whom  Christiane's  deep  anguish  only 
exasperated,  was  touched  to  the  bottom  of  his  heart 
by  a  girl's  first  disillusion. 

He  came  back,  and  kneeling  down  in  his  turn,  in 
order  to  speak  to  her,  said:  "Come,  calm  yourself, 
I  beg  of  you.  They  are  going  to  return  presently. 
They  must  not  see  you  crying." 

She  sprang  to  her  feet,  scared  by  this  idea  that 
her  sister  might  find  her  with  tears  in  her  eyes. 
Her  throat  remained  choking  with  sobs,  which  she 
held  back,  which  she  swallowed  down,  which  she  sent 
back  into  her  heart,  filling  it  with  more  poignant 
grief.  She  faltered:  "Yes  —  yes  —  it  is  over — it  is 
nothing  —  it  is  over.  Look  here!  It  cannot  be  noticed 
now.     Isn't  that  so?     It  cannot  be  noticed  now." 

Christiane  wiped  her  cheeks  with  her  handker- 
chief, then  passed  it  also  across  her  own.  She  said  to 
Paul: 

"Go,  pray,  and  see  what  they  are  doing.  We 
cannot  see  them  any  longer.     They  have  disappeared 


MONT    ORIOL  259 

under  tht  blocks  of  lava.      I  will  look   after  this  little 
one,  and  console  her." 

Bretigny  had  again  stood  up,  and  in  a  trembling 
voice,  said:  "1  am  going  there — and  I'll  bring  them 
back,  but  it  will  be  my  affair  — your  brother  —  this  very 
day  —  and  he  shall  give  me  an  explanation  of  his  un- 
justifiable conduct,  after  what  he  said  to  us  the  other 
day."  He  began  to  descend,  running  toward  the 
center  of  the  crater. 

Gontran,  hurrying  Louise  along,  had  pulled  her 
with  all  his  strength  over  the  steep  side  of  the  chasm, 
in  order  to  hold  her  up,  to  sustain  her,  to  put  her  out 
of  breath,  to  make  her  dizzy,  and  to  frighten  her. 
She,  carried  along  by  his  wild  rush,  attempted  to 
stop  him,  gasping:  "Oh!  not  so  quickly  — I'm  going 
to  fall  —  why,  you're  mad  —  I'm  going  to  fall!" 

They  knocked  against  the  blocks  of  lava,  and  re- 
mained standing  up,  both  breathless.  Then  they 
walked  round  the  crater  staring  at  the  big  gaps 
which  formed  below  a  kind  of  cavern,  with  a  double 
outlet. 

When  at  the  end  of  its  life,  the  volcano  had  cast 
out  this  last  mouthful  of  foam,  unable  to  shoot  it  up 
to  the  sky  as  in  former  times,  he  had  spat  it  forth, 
so  that,  thick  and  half-cooled,  it  fixed  itself  upon  his 
dying  lips. 

"We  must  enter  under  there,"  said  Gontran.  And 
he  pushed  the  young  girl  before  him.  Then,  when 
they  were  in  the  grotto,  he  said:  "  V/ell,  Mademoiselle, 
this  is  the  moment  to  make  a  declaration  to  you." 

She  was  stupefied:  "A  declaration  —  to  me!" 

"Why,  yes,  in  four  words--!  find  you  charming!" 

"It  is  to  my  sister  you  should  say  that!" 


26o  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

"Oh!  you  know  well  that  I  am  not  making  a 
dechiration  to  your  sister." 

"Come,  now!" 

"Look  here!  you  would  not  be  a  woman  if  you 
did  not  understand  that  I  have  paid  attentions  to  her 
to  see  what  you  would  think  of  it!  —  and  what  looks 
you  gave  me  on  account  of  it.  Why,  you  looked 
daggers  at  me!  Oh!  I'm  quite  satisfied.  So  then  I 
have  tried  to  prove  to  you,  by  all  the  consideration 
in  my  power,  how  much  I  thought  about  you." 

Nobody  had  ever  before  talked  to  her  in  this  way. 
She  felt  confused  and  delighted,  her  heart  full  of  joy 
and  pride.  He  went  on:  "I  know  well  that  I  have 
been  nasty  toward  your  little  sister.  So  much  the 
worse.  She  is  not  deceived  by  it,  never  fear.  You 
see  how  she  remained  on  the  hillside,  how  she  was 
not  inclined  to  follow  us.  Oh!  she  understands!  she 
understands!  " 

He  had  caught  hold  of  one  of  Louise  Oriol's  hands, 
and  he  kissed  the  ends  of  her  fingers  softly,  gallantly, 
murmuring:  "How  nice  you  are!  How  nice  you 
are!" 

She,  leaning  against  the  wall  of  lava,  heard  his 
heart  beating  with  emotion  without  uttering  a  word. 
The  thought,  the  sole  thought,  which  floated  in  her 
agitated  mind,  was  one  of  triumph;  she  had  got  the 
better  of  her  sister!  But  a  shadow  appeared  at  the 
entrance  to  the  grotto.  Paul  Bretigny  was  looking  at 
them.  Gontran,  in  a  natural  fashion,  let  fall  the  little 
hand  which  he  had  been  raising  to  his  lips,  and  said: 
"Hallo!  you  here?    Are  you  alone?" 

"Yes.  We  were  surprised  to  see  you  disappear-* 
ing  down  here." 


MONT    ORIOL  261 

"Oh!  well,  let  us  go  back.  We  were  looking  at 
this.     Isn't  it  rather  curious?" 

Louise,  flushed  up  to  her  temples,  went  out  first, 
and  began  to  reascend  the  slope,  followed  by  the  two 
young  men,  who  were  talking  behind  in  a  low  tone. 

Christiane  and  Charlotte  saw  them  approaching, 
and  awaited  them  with  clasped  hands. 

They  went  back  to  the  carriage  in  which  the 
Marquis  had  remained,  and  the  Noah's  Ark  set  out 
again  for  Enval. 

Suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  a  little  forest  of  pine- 
trees  the  landau  stopped,  and  the  coachman  began  to 
swear.     An  old  dead  ass  blocked  the  way. 

Everyone  wanted  to  look  at  it,  and  they  got  down 
off  the  carriage.  He  lay  stretched  on  the  blackened 
dust,  himself  discolored,  and  so  lean  that  his  worn 
skin  at  the  places  where  the  bones  projected  seemed 
as  if  it  would  have  been  burst  through  if  the  animal 
had  not  breathed  forth  his  last  sigh.  The  entire  carcass 
outlined  itself  under  the  gnawed  hair  of  his  sides,  and 
his  head  looked  enormous  —  a  poor-looking  head, 
with  the  eyes  closed,  tranquil  now  on  its  bed  of 
broken  stones,  so  tranquil,  so  calm  in  death,  that  it 
appeared  happy  and  surprised  at  this  new-found  rest. 
His  big  ears,  now  relaxed,  lay  like  rags.  Two  raw 
wounds  on  his  knees  told  how  often  he  had  fallen 
that  very  day  before  sinking  down  for  the  last  time; 
and  another  wound  on  the  side  showed  the  place 
where  his  master,  for  years  and  years,  had  been 
prickmg  him  with  an  iron  spike  attached  to  the  end 
of  a  stick,  to  hasten  his  slow  pace. 

The  coachman,  having  caught  its  hind  legs,  dragged 
it  toward    a   ditch,  and   the    neck  was   strained    as   if 


262  WORKS  OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

the  dead  brute  were  going  to  bray  once  more,  to 
give  vent  to  a  last  complaint.  Wnen  this  was  done, 
the  man,  in  a  rage,  muttered:  "What  brutes,  to  leave 
this  in  the  middle  of  the  road!" 

No  other  person  had  said  a  word;  they  again 
stepped  into  the  carriage.  Christiane,  heartbroken, 
crushed,  saw  all  the  miserable  life  of  this  animal 
ended  thus  at  the  side  of  the  road:  the  merry  little 
donkey  with  his  big  head,  in  which  glittered  a  pair 
of  big  eyes,  comical  and  good-tempered,  with  his 
rough  hair  and  his  long  ears,  gamboling  about,  still 
free,  close  to  his  mother's  legs;  then  the  first  cart; 
the  first  uphill  journey;  the  first  blows;  and,  after 
that,  the  ceaseless  and  terrible  walking  along  inter- 
minable roads,  the  overpowering  heat  of  the  sun,  and 
nothing  for  food  save  a  little  straw,  a  little  hay,  or 
some  branches,  while  all  along  the  hard  roads  there 
was  the  temptation  of  the  green  meadows. 

And  then,  again,  as  age  came  upon  him,  the  iron 
spike  replacing  the  pliant  switch;  and  the  frightful 
martyrdom  of  the  animal,  worn  out,  bereft  of  breath, 
bruised,  always  dragging  after  it  excessive  loads,  and 
suffering  in  all  its  limbs,  in  all  its  old  body,  shabby 
as  a  beggar's  cart.  And  then  the  death,  the  benefi- 
cent death,  three  paces  away  from  the  grass  of  the 
ditch,  to  which  a  man,  passing  by,  drags  it  with  oaths, 
in  order  to  clear  the  road. 

Christiane,  for  the  first  time,  understood  the  wretch- 
edness of  enslaved  creatures;  and  death  appeared  to 
her  also  a  very  good  thing  at  times. 

Suddenly  they  passed  by  a  little  cart,  which  a 
man  nearly  naked,  a  woman  in  tatters,  and  a  lean 
dog  were  dragging  along,  exhausted  by  fatigue.     The 


MONT    ORIOL  263 

occupants  of  the  carriage  noticed  that  they  were 
sweating  and  panting.  The  dog,  with  his  tongue 
out,  fieshless  and  mangy,  was  fastened  between  the 
wheels.  There  were  in  this  cart  pieces  of  wood 
picked  up  everywhere,  stolen,  no  doubt,  roots, 
stumps,  broken  branches,  which  seemed  to  hide 
other  things;  then  over  these  branches  rags,  and  on 
these  rags  a  child,  nothing  but  a  head  starting  out 
through  gray  old  scraps  of  cloth,  a  round  ball  with 
two  eyes,  a  nose,  and  a  mouth! 

This  was  a  f^unily,  a  human  family!  The  ass  had 
succumbed  to  fatigue,  and  the  man,  without  pity  for 
his  dead  servant,  without  pushing  it  even  into  the 
rut,  had  left  it  in  the  open  road,  in  front  of  any 
vehicles  which  might  be  coming  up.  Then,  yoking 
himself  in  his  turn  with  his  wife  in  the  empty  shafts, 
they  proceeded  to  drag  it  along  as  the  beast  had 
dragged  it  a  short  time  before.  They  were  going 
on.  Where?  To  do  what  .^  Had  they  even  a  few 
sous?  That  cart- — would  they  be  dragging  it  for- 
ever, not  being  in  a  position  to  buy  another  animal? 
What  would  they  live  on?  Where  would  they  stop? 
They  would    probably   die  as   their  donkey    had  died. 

Were  they  married,  these  beggars,  or  merely  living 
together?  And  their  child  would  do  the  same  as 
they  did,  this  little  brute  as  yet  unformed,  concealed 
under  sordid  wrappings.  Christiane  was  thinking  on 
all  these  things;  and  new  sensations  rose  up  in  the 
depths  of  her  pitying  soul.  She  had  a  glimpse  of  the 
misery  of  the  poor. 

Gontran  said,  all  of  a  sudden:  "1  don't  know 
why,  but  I  would  think  it  a  delicious  thing  if  we 
were    all   to   dine   together   this    evening    at    the   Cafe 


264  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Anglais.  It  would  give  me  pleasure  to  have  a  look 
at  the  boulevard." 

And  the  Marquis  muttered:  "Bah!  we  are  well 
enough  here.  The  new  hotel  is  much  better  than  the 
old  one." 

They  passed  in  front  of  Tournoel.  A  recollection 
of  the  spot  made  Christiane's  heart  palpitate,  as  she 
recognized  a  certain  chestnut-tree.  She  glanced  to- 
ward Paul,  who  had  closed  his  eyes,  so  that  he  did 
not  see  her  meek,  appealing  face. 

Soon  they  perceived  two  men  before  the  carriage, 
two  vinedressers  returning  from  work  carrying  their 
rakes  on  their  shoulders,  and  walking  with  the  long, 
weary  steps  of  laborers.  The  Oriol  girls  reddened  to 
their  very  temples.  It  was  their  father  and  their 
brother,  who  had  gone  back  to  their  vine-lands  as  in 
former  times,  and  passed  their  days  sweating  over 
the  soil  which  they  had  enriched,  and  bent  double, 
with  their  buttocks  in  the  air,  kept  toiling  at  it  from 
morning  until  evening,  while  the  fine  frock-coats, 
carefully  folded  up,  were  at  rest  in  the  chest  of 
drawers,  and  the  tall  hats  in  a  press. 

The  two  peasants  bowed  with  a  friendly  smile, 
while  everyone  in  the  landau  waved  a  hand  in  re- 
sponse to  their  "Good  evening." 

When  they  got  back,  just  as  Gontran  was  step' 
ping  out  of  the  Ark  to  go  up  to  the  Casino,  Bre- 
tigny  accompanied  him,  and  stopping  on  the  first 
steps,  said: 

"Listen,  m.y  friend!  What  you're  doing  is  not 
right,  and  I've  promised  your  sister  to  speak  to  you 
about  it." 

"To  speak  about  what?" 


MONTORIOL  265 

"  About  the  way  you  have  been  acting  during  the 
last  few  days." 

Gontran  had  resumed  his  impertinent  air. 

"Acting?    Toward  whom?" 

"Toward  this  girl  whom  you  are  meanly  jilting." 

"  Do  you  think  so  ?" 

"Yes,  I  do  think  so  —  and  I  am  right  in  think- 
ing so." 

"Bah!  you  are  becoming  very  scrupulous  on  the 
subject  of  jilting." 

"Ah,  my  friend,  'tis  not  a  question  of  a  loose 
woman  here,  but  of  a  young  girl." 

"I  know  that  perfectly;  therefore,  1  have  not  se- 
duced her.     The  difference  is  very  marked." 

They  went  on  walking  together  side  by  side. 
Gontran's  demeanor  exasperated  Paul,  who  replied: 

"  If  I  were  not  your  friend,  I  would  say  some 
very  severe  things  to  you." 

"And  for  my  part  I  would  not  permit  you  to  say 
them." 

"Look  here,  listen  to  me,  my  friend!  This  young 
girl  excites  my  pity.  She  was  weeping  a  little  while 
ago." 

"Bah!  she  was  weeping!  Why,  that's  a  compli- 
ment to  me! " 

"Come,  don't  trifle!     What  do  you  mean  to  do?" 

"1?    Nothing!" 

"Just  consider!  You  have  gone  so  far  with  her 
that  you  have  compromised  her.  The  other  day  you 
told  your  sister  and  me  that  you  were  thinking  of 
marrying  her." 

Gontran  stopped  in  his  walk,  and  in  that  mock- 
ing tone  through  which  a  menace  showed  itself: 


266  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

"My  sister  and  you  would  do  better  not  to  bother 
yourselves  about  other  people's  love  affairs.  1  told 
you  that  this  girl  pleases  me  well  enough,  and  that 
if  I  happened  to  marry  her,  I  would  be  doing  a  wise 
and  reasonable  act.  That's  all.  Now  it  turns  out 
that  to-day  I  like  the  elder  girl  better.  I  have  changed 
my  mind.  That's  a  thing  that  happens  to  every- 
one." 

Then,  looking  him  full  in  the  face:  "What  is  it 
that  you  do  yourself  when  you  cease  to  care  about  a 
woman?     Do  you  look  after  her?" 

Paul  Bretigny,  astonished,  sought  to  penetrate  the 
profound  meaning,  the  hidden  sense,  of  these  words. 
A  little  feverishness  also  mounted  into  his  brain.  He 
said  in  a  violent  tone: 

"I  tell  you  again  this  is  not  a  question  of  a  hussy 
or  a  married  woman,  but  of  a  young  girl  whom  you 
have  deceived,  if  not  by  promises,  at  least  by  your 
advances.  That  is  not,  mark  you,  the  part  of  a  man 
of  honor!  —  or  of  an  honest  man!" 

Gontran,  pale,  his  voice  quivering,  interrupted 
him:  "Hold  your  tongue!  You  have  already  said 
too  much  —  and  I  have  listened  to  too  much  of  this. 
In  my  turn,  if  I  were  not  your  friend  1 — I  might 
show  you  that  I  have  a  short  temper.  Another  word, 
and  there  is  an  end  of  everything  between  us  for- 
ever!" 

Then,  slowly  weighing  his  words,  and  flinging 
them  in  Paul's  face,  he  said:  "I  have  no  explanations 
to  offer  you  —  I  might  rather  have  to  demand  them 
from  you.  There  is  a  certain  kind  of  indelicacy  of 
which  it  is  not  the  part  of  a  man  of  honor  or  of 
an  honest  man  to  be  guilty  —  u'hich  might  take  many 


MONT    ORIOL  267 

forms  —  from  which  friendship  ought  to  i<eep  certain 
people  —  and  which  love  does  not  excuse." 

All  of  a  sudden,  changing  his  tone,  and  almost 
jesting,  he  added: 

''As  for  this  little  Charlotte,  if  she  excites  your 
pity,  and  if  you  like  her,  take  her,  and  marry  her. 
Marriage  is  often  a  solution  of  dilTicult  cases.  It  is  a 
solution,  and  a  stronghold,  in  which  one  may  barri- 
cade himself  against  desperate  obstacles.  She  is 
pretty  and  rich!  It  would  be  very  desirable  for  you 
to  finish  with  an  accident  like  this!  —  it  would  be 
amusing  for  us  to  marry  here,  the  same  day,  for  I 
certainly  will  marry  the  elder  one.  I  tell  it  to  you 
as  a  secret,  and  don't  repeat  it  as  yet.  Now  don't 
forget  that  you  have  less  right  than  anyone  else  your- 
self ever  to  talk  about  integrity  in  matters  of  senti- 
ment, and  scruples  of  affection.  And  now  go  and 
look  after  your  own  affairs.  I  am  going  to  look 
after  mine.     Good  night!" 

And  suddenly  turning  off  in  another  direction,  he 
went  down  toward  the  village.  Paul  Bretigny,  with 
doubts  in  his  mind  and  uneasiness  in  his  heart, 
returned  with  lingering  steps  to  the  hotel  of  Mont 
Oriol. 

He  tried  to  understand  thoroughly,  to  recall  each 
word,  in  order  to  determine  its  meaning,  and  he  was 
amazed  at  the  secret  byways,  shameful  and  unfit  to 
be  spoken  of,  which  may  be  hidden  in  certain  souls. 

When  Christiane  asked  him:  "What  reply  did 
you  get  from  Gontran?" 

He  faltered:  "My  God!  he — he  prefers  the  elder, 
just  now.  I  believe  he  even  intends  to  marry  her  — 
and  in  answer  to  my  rather  sharp  reproaches  he  shut 


268  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

my  mouth  by  allusions  that  are  —  disquieting  to  both 
of  us." 

Christiane  sank  into  a  chair,  murmuring:  "Oh! 
my  God!  my  God!" 

But,  as  Gontran  had  just  come  in,  for  the  bell  had 
rung  for  dinner,  he  kissed  her  gaily  on  the  forehead, 
asking:  "Well,  little  sister,  how  do  you  feel  now? 
You  are  not  too  tired?" 

Then  he  pressed  Paul's  hand,  and,  turning  toward 
Andermatt,  who  had  come  in  after  him: 

"I  say,  pearl  of  brothers-in-law,  of  husbands,  and 
of  friends,  can  you  tell  me  exactly  what  an  old  ass 
dead  on  a  road  is  worth  ? " 


CHAPTER   XII 


A  Betrothal 


NDERMATT  and  Doctof  Latonne  were 

walking  in  front  of  the  Casino  on 

a  terrace  adorned  with  vases  made 

of  imitation   marble. 

"He    no    longer     salutes    me,"  the 


doctor  was    saying,    referring     to    his 

brother-physician     Bonnefille.     "He    is 

over  there    in    his  pit,   like  a  wild-boar. 

I  believe  he  would  poison  our  springs,  if 

he  could!" 

^^.. — *  Andermatt,    with    his    hands    behind    his 

back    and  his  hat  —  a  small  round  hat  of  gray 
felt  —  thrown   back  over   his    neck,  so   as  to  let 
the   baldness    above    his    forehead    be    seen,   was 
deeply  plunged  in  thought.     At  length  he  said: 

"Oh!  in  three  months  the  Company  will  have 
knuckled  under.  We  might  buy  it  over  at  ten  thou- 
sand francs.  It  is  that  wretched  Bonnefille  who  is 
exciting  them  against  me,  and  who  makes  them 
fancy  that  I  will  give  way.     But  he  is  mistaken." 

The  new  inspector  returned:  "You  are  aware 
that  they  have  shut  up  their  Casino  since  yesterday. 
They  have  no  one  any  longer." 

(269) 


2']0 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 


"Yes,  I  am  aware  of  it;  but  we  have  not  enough 
of  people  here  ourselves.  They  stick  in  too  much  at 
the  hotels;  and  people  get  bored  in  the  hotels,  my 
dear  fellow.  It  is  necessary  to  amuse  the  bathers,  to 
distract  them,  to  make  them  think  the  season  too  short. 
Those  staying  at  our  Mont  Oriol  hotel  come  every 
evening,  because  they  are  quite  near,  but  the  others 
hesitate  and  remain  in  their  abodes.  It  is  a  question 
of  routes — ^^ nothing  else.  Success  always  depends  on 
certain  imperceptible  causes  which  we  ought  to  know 
how  to  discover.  It  is  necessary  that  the  routes 
leading  to  a  place  of  recreation  should  be  a  source 
of  recreation  in  themselves,  the  commencement  of 
the  pleasure  which  one  will  be  enjoying  presently. 

"The  ways  which  lead  to  this  place  are  bad, 
stony,  hard;  they  cause  fatigue.  When  a  route  which 
goes  to  any  place,  to  which  one  has  a  vague  desire 
of  paying  a  visit,  is  pleasant,  wide,  and  full  of 
shade  in  the  daytime,  easy  and  not  too  steep  at 
night,  one  selects  it  naturally  in  preference  to  others. 
If  you  knew  how  the  body  preserves  the  recollection 
of  a  thousand  things  which  the  mind  has  not  taken 
the  trouble  to  retain!  1  believe  this  is  how  the 
memory  of  animals  is  constructed.  Have  you  felt  too 
hot  when  repairing  to  such  a  place  ?  Have  you  tired 
your  feet  on  badly  broken  stones  ?  Have  you  found 
an  ascent  too  rough,  even  while  you  were  thinking 
of  something  else.?*  If  so,  you  will  experience  invincible 
repugnance  to  revisiting  that  spot.  You  were  chat- 
ting with  a  friend;  you  took  no  notice  of  the  slight 
annoyances  of  the  journey;  you  were  looking  at 
nothing,  remarking  notice;  but  your  legs,  your  mus- 
cles, your   lungs,  your  whole   body  have   not   forgot- 


MONT    ORIOL 


271 


ten,  and  they  say  to  the  mind,  when  it  wants  to 
take  them  along  the  same  route:  'No,  I  won't  go;  1 
have  suffered  too  much  there.'  And  the  mind  yields 
to  this  refusal  without  disputing  it,  submitting  to 
this  mute  language  of  the  companions  who  carry  it 
along. 

"So  then,  we  want  fine  pathways,  which  comes 
back  to  saying  that  1  require  the  bits  of  ground 
belonging  to  that  donkey  of  a  Pere  Oriol.  But  pa- 
tience! Ha!  with  reference  to  that  point,  Mas-Rous- 
sel  has  become  the  proprietor  of  his  own  chalet  on 
the  same  conditions  as  Remusot.  It  is  a  trifling  sac- 
rifice for  which  he  will  amply  indemnify  us.  Try, 
therefore,  to  find  out  exactly  what  are  Cloche's  in- 
tentions." 

"He'll  do  just  the  same  thing  as  the  others,"  said 
the  physician.  "But  there  is  something  else,  of 
which  I  have  been  thinking  for  the  last  few  days, 
and  which  we  have  completely  forgotten  —  it  is  the 
meteorological  bulletin." 

"What  meteorological   bulletin?" 

"In  the  big  Parisian  newspapers.  It  is  indispensa- 
ble, this  is!  It  is  necessary  that  the  temperature  of 
a  thermal  station  should  be  better,  less  variable,  more 
uniformly  mild  than  that  of  the  neighboring  and  rival 
stations.  You  subscribe  to  the  meteorological  bulletin 
in  the  leading  organs  of  opinion,  and  I  will  send 
every  evening  by  telegraph  the  atmospheric  situation. 
I  will  do  it  in  such  a  way  that  the  average  arrived 
at  when  the  year  is  at  an  end  may  be  higher  than 
the  best  mean  temperatures  of  the  surrounding  sta- 
tions. The  first  thing  that  meets  our  eyes  when  we 
open  the  big  newspapers  are  the  temperatures  of  Vichy, 


272 


WORKS  OF  GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 


of  Royat,  of  Mont  Dore,  of  Chatel-Guyon,  and  other 
places  during  the  summer  season,  and,  during  the 
winter  season,  the  temperatures  of  Cannes,  Mentone, 
Nice,  Saint  Raphael.  It  is  necessary  that  the  weather 
should  always  be  hot  and  always  fine  in  these  places, 
in  order  that  the  Parisian  might  say:  'Christi!  how 
lucky  the  people  are  who  go  down  there!'" 

Andermatt  exclaimed:  "Upon  my  honor,  you're 
right.  Why  have  1  never  thought  of  that?  I  will 
attend  to  it  this  very  day.  With  regard  to  useful 
things,  have  you  written  to  Professors  Larenard  and 
Pascalis  ?  There  are  two  men  I  would  like  very  much 
to  have  here." 

"Unapproachable,  my  dear  President  —  unless  — 
unless  they  are  satisfied  of  themselves  after  many 
trials  that  our  waters  are  of  a  superior  character. 
But,  as  far  as  they  are  concerned,  you  will  accom- 
plish nothing  by  persuasion — by  anticipation." 

They  passed  by  Paul  and  Gontran,  who  had  come 
to  take  coffee  after  luncheon.  Other  bathers  made 
their  appearance,  especially  men,  for  the  women,  on 
rising  from  the  table,  always  went  up  to  their  rooms 
for  an  hour  or  two.  Petrus  Martel  was  looking  after 
his  waiters,  and  crying  out:  "A  kummel,  a  nip  of 
brandy,  a  glass  of  aniseed  cordial,"  in  the  same  roll- 
ing, deep  voice  which  he  would  assume  an  hour 
later  while  conducting  rehearsals,  and  giving  the  key- 
note to  the  young  premiere. 

Andermatt  stopped  a  few  moments  for  a  short 
^hat  with  the  two  young  men;  then  he  resumed  his 
promenade  by  the  side  of  the  inspector. 

Gontran,  with  legs  crossed  and  folded  arms,  loll- 
ing   in    his    chair,  with   the  nape  of  his  neck  against 


MONT    ORIOL 


273 


the  back  of  it,  and  his  eyes  and  his  cigar  facing  the 
sky,  was  puffing  in  a   state  of  absolute   contentment. 

Suddenly,  he  asked:  "Would  you  mind  taking  a 
turn,  presently,  in  the  valley  of  Sans-Souci  ?  The 
girls  will  be  there." 

Paul  hesitated;  then,  after  some  reflection:  "Yes, 
I  am  quite  willing."  Then  he  added:  "Is  your 
affair  progressing.?" 

"Egad,  it  is!  Oh!  1  have  a  hold  of  her.  She 
won't  escape  me  now." 

Gontran  had,  by  this  time,  taken  his  friend  into 
his  confidence,  and  told  him,  day  by  day,  how  he 
was  going  on  and  how  much  ground  he  had  gained. 
He  even  got  him  to  be  present,  as  a  confederate,  at 
his  appointments,  for  he  had  managed  to  obtain  ap- 
pointments with  Louise  Oriol  by  a  little  bit  of  in- 
genuity. 

After  their  promenade  at  the  Puy  de  la  Nugere, 
Christiane  put  an  end  to  these  excursions  by  not  go- 
ing out  at  all,  and  so  rendered  it  more  and  more 
difficult  for  the  lovers  to  meet.  Her  brother,  put  out 
at  first  by  this  attitude  on  her  part,  bethought  him  of 
some  means  of  extricating  himself  from  this  predica- 
ment. Accustomed  to  Parisian  morals,  according  to 
which  women  are  regarded  by  men  of  his  stamp  as 
game,  the  chase  of  which  is  often  no  easy  one,  he 
had  in  former  days  made  use  of  many  artifices  in 
order  to  gain  access  to  those  for  whom  he  had  con- 
ceived a  passion.  He  knew  better  than  anyone  else 
how  to  make  use  of  pimps,  to  discover  those  who 
were  accommodating  through  interested  motives,  and 
to  determine  with  a  single  glance  the  men  or  women 
who  were  disposed  to  aid  him  in  his  designs. 

8    G.  aL-.M.-i8 


274 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


The  unconscious  support  of  Christiane  having  sud- 
denly been  withdrawn  from  him,  he  had  looked  about 
him  for  the  requisite  connecting  link,  the  "pliant 
nature,"  as  he  expressed  it  himself,  whereby  he  could 
replace  his  sister;  and  his  choice  speedily  fixed  itself 
on  Doctor  Honorat's  wife.  Many  reasons  pointed  at 
her  as  a  suitable  person.  In  the  first  place,  her  hus- 
band, closely  associated  with  the  Oriols,  had  been  for 
the  past  twenty  years  attending  this  family.  He  had 
been  present  at  the  birth  of  the  children,  had  dined 
with  them  every  Sunday,  and  had  entertained  them 
at  his  own  table  every  Tuesday.  His  wife,  a  fat  old 
woman  of  the  lower-middle  class,  trying  to  pass  as  a 
lady,  full  of  pretension,  easy  to  overcome  through  her 
vanity,  was  sure  to  lend  both  hands  to  every  desire  of 
the  Comte  de  Ravenel,  whose  brother-in-law  owned 
the  establishment  of  Mont  Oriol. 

Besides,  Gontran,  who  was  a  good  judge  of  a  go- 
between,  had  satisfied  himself  that  this  woman  was 
naturally  well  adapted  for  the  part,  by  merely  seeing 
her  walking  through  the  street. 

"She  has  the  physique,"  was  his  reflection,  "and 
when  one  has  the  physique  for  an  employment,  one 
has  the  soul  required  for  it,  too!" 

Accordingly,  he  made  his  way  into  her  abode,  one 
day,  after  having  accompanied  her  husband  to  his 
own  door.  He  sat  down,  chatted,  complimented  the 
lady,  and,  when  the  dinner-bell  rang,  he  said,  as  he 
ro.se  up:  "You  have  a  very  savory  smell  here.  You 
cook  better  than  they  do  at  the  hotel." 

Madame  Honorat,  swelling  with  pride,  faltered: 
"Good  heavens!  if  1  might  make  so  bold  —  if  1  might 
make  so  bold,   Monsieur  le  Comte,  as  — " 


MONT    ORIOL  '27c 

"If  you  might  make  so  bold  as  what,  dear  Ma- 
dame?" 

"As  to  ask  you  to  share  our  humble  meal." 

"Faith  —  faith,   I  would  say  'yes.'" 

The  doctor,  ill  at  ease,  muttered:  "But  we  have 
nothing,  nothing  —  soup,  a  joint  of  beef,  and  a 
chicken,  that's  all!" 

Gontran  laughed:  "That's  quite  enough  for  me. 
I  accept  the  invitation." 

And  he  dined  at  the  Honorat  household.  The  fat 
woman  rose  up,  went  to  take  the  dishes  out  of  the 
servant-maid's  hands,  in  order  that  the  latter  might 
not  spill  the  sauce  over  the  tablecloth,  and,  in  spite 
of  her  husband's  impatience,  insisted  on  attending  at 
table  herself. 

The  Comte  congratulated  her  on  the  excellence  of 
the  cooking,  on  the  good  house  she  kept,  on  her  at- 
tention to  the  duties  of  hospitality,  and  he  left  her 
inflamed  with  enthusiasm. 

He  returned  to  leave  his  card,  accepted  a  fresh  in- 
vitation, and  thenceforth  made  his  way  constantly  to 
Madame  Honorat's  house,  to  which  the  Oriol  girls 
had  paid  visits  frequently  also  for  many  years  as 
neighbors  and  friends. 

So  then  he  spent  hours  there,  in  the  midst  of  the 
three  ladies,  attentive  to  both  sisters,  but  accentuating 
clearly,  from  day  to  day,  his  marked  preference  for 
Louise. 

The  jealousy  that  had  sprung  up  between  the 
girls  since  the  time  when  he  had  begun  to  make  love 
to  Charlotte  had  assumed  an  aspect  of  spiteful  hos- 
tility on  the  side  of  the  elder  girl  and  of  disdain  on 
the  side  of  the    younger.     Louise,   with    her    reserved 


276  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

air,  imported  into  her  reticences  and  her  demure  ways 
in  Gontran's  society  much  more  coquetry  and  encour- 
agement than  the  other  had  formerly  shown  v/ith  all 
her  free  and  joyous  unconstraint.  Charlotte,  wounded 
to  the  quick,  concealed  through  pride  the  pain  that 
she  endured,  pretended  not  to  see  or  hear  anything 
of  what  was  happening  around  her,  and  continued 
her  visits  to  Madame  Honorat's  house  with  a  beauti- 
ful appearance  of  indifference  to  all  these  lovers' 
meetings.  She  would  not  remain  behind  at  her  own 
abode  lest  people  might  think  that  her  heart  was 
sore,  that  she  was  weeping,  that  she  was  making 
way  for  her  sister. 

Gontran,  too  proud  of  his  achievement  to  throw  a 
veil  over  it,  could  not  keep  himself  from  talking  about 
it  to  Paul.  And  Paul,  thinking  it  amusing,  began  to 
laugh.  He  had,  besides,  since  the  first  equivocal  remarks 
of  his  friend,  resolved  not  to  interfere  in  his  affairs, 
and  he  often  asked  himself  with  uneasiness:  "Can  it 
be  possible  that  he  knows  something  about  Christiane 
and  me.^" 

He  knew  Gontran  too  well  not  to  believe  him 
capable  of  shutting  his  eyes  to  an  intrigue  on  the 
part  of  his  sister.  But  then,  why  did  he  not  let  it 
be  understood  sooner  that  he  guessed  it  or  was 
aware  of  it?  Gontran  was,  in  fact,  one  of  those  in 
whose  opinion  every  woman  in  society  ought  to  have 
a  lover  or  lovers,  one  of  those  for  whom  the  family 
is  merely  a  society  of  mutual  help,  for  whom  moral- 
ity is  an  attitude  that  is  indispensable  in  order  to  veil 
the  different  appetites  Wiiich  nature  has  implanted  in 
us,  and  for  whom  worldly  honor  is  a  front  behind 
which  amiable  vices   should  be  hidden.     Moreover,  if 


MONT    ORIOL  277 

he  had  egged  on  his  dear  sister  to  marry  Andermatt 
was  it  not  with  the  vague,  if  not  clearly-defined,  idea 
that  this  Jew  might  be  utilized,  in  every  way,  by  all 
the  family?  —  and  he  would  probably  have  despised 
Christiane  for  being  faithful  to  this  husband  of  con- 
venience, of  utility,  just  as  much  as  he  would  have 
despised  himself  for  not  borrowing  freely  from  his 
brother-in-law's  purse. 

Paul  pondered  over  all  this,  and  it  disturbed  his 
modern  Don  Quixote's  soul,  which,  in  any  event,  was 
disposed  toward  compromise.  He  had,  therefore,  be- 
come very  reserved  with  this  enigmatic  friend  of  his. 
When,  accordingly,  Gontran  told  him  the  use  that  he 
was  making  of  Madame  Honorat,  Bretigny  burst  out 
laughing;  and  he  had  even,  for  some  time  past,  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  brought  to  that  lady's  house,  and 
found  great  pleasure  in  chatting  with  Charlotte  there. 

The  doctor's  wife  lent  herself,  with  the  best  grace 
in  the  world,  to  the  part  she  was  made  to  play,  and 
offered  them  tea  about  five  o'clock,  like  the  Parisian 
ladies,  with  little  cakes  manufactured  by  her  own 
hands.  On  the  first  occasion  when  Paul  made  his 
way  into  this  household,  she  welcomed  him  as  if  he 
were  an  old  friend,  made  him  sit  down,  removed  his 
hat  herself,  in  spite  of  his  protests,  and  placed  it  be- 
side the  clock  upon  the  mantelpiece.  Then,  eager, 
bustling,  going  from  one  to  the  other,  tremendously 
big  and  fat,  she  asked: 

"Do  you  feel  inclined  for  a  little  dinner?" 

Gontran  told  funny  stories,  joked,  and  laughed 
quite  at  his  ease.  Then,  he  took  Louise  into  the  re- 
cess of  a  window  under  the  troubled  eyes  of  Char- 
lotte. 


278 


WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 


Madame  Honorat,  who  sat  chatting  with  Paul,  said 
to  him  in  a  maternal  tone: 

"These  dear  children,  they  come  here  to  have  a 
few  minutes'  conversation  with  one  another.  '  Tis 
very  innocent  —  isn't  it,  Monsieur  Bretigny?" 

"Oh!  very  innocent,  Madame!" 

When  he  came  the  next  time,  she  familiarly  ad- 
dressed him  as  "Monsieur  Paul,"  treating  him  more 
or  less  as  a  crony. 

And  from  that  time  forth,  Gontran  told  him,  with 
a  sort  of  teasing  liveliness,  all  about  the  complaisant 
behavior  of  the  doctor's  wife,  to  whom  he  had  said, 
the  evening  before:  "Why  do  you  never  go  out  for 
a  walk  along  the  Sans-Souci  road  ? " 

"But  we  will  go,  M.  le  Comte  —  we  will  go." 

"Say,  to-morrow  about  three  o'clock." 

"To-morrow,  about   three    o'clock,  M.  le  Comte." 

And  Gontran  explained  to  Paul:  "You  understand 
that  in  this  drawing-room,  1  cannot  say  anything  of 
a  very  confidential  nature  to  the  elder  girl  before 
the  younger.  But  in  the  wood  1  can  go  on  before 
or  remain  behind  with  Louise.  So  then  you  will 
come?" 

"Yes,  I  have  no  objection." 

"  Let  us  go  on  then." 

And  they  rose  up,  and  set  forth  at  a  leisurely  pace 
along  the  highroad;  then,  having  passed  through  La 
Roche  Pradiere,  they  turned  to  the  left  and  descended 
into  the  wooded  glen  in  the  midst  of  tangled  brush- 
wood. When  they  had  passed  the  little  river,  they 
sat  down  at  the  side  of  the  path  and  waited. 

The  three  ladies  soon  arrived,  walking  in  single 
file,  Louise  in  front,  and  Madame  Honorat  in  the  rear. 


MONT    ORIOL 


279 


They  exhibited  surprise  on  both  sides  at  having  met 
in  this  way.  Gontran  exclaimed:  "Well,  now,  what 
a  good  idea  this  was  of  yours  to  come  along    here!" 

The  doctor's  wife  replied:  "Yes,  the  idea  was 
mine." 

They  continued  their  walk.  Louise  and  Gontran 
gradually  quickened  their  steps,  went  on  in  advance, 
and  rambled  so  far  together  that  they  disappeared 
from  view  at  a  turn  of  the  narrow  path. 

The  fat  lady,  who  was  breathing  hard,  murmured, 
as  she  cast  an  indulgent  eye  in  their  direction:  "Bah! 
they're  young — they  have  legs.  As  for  me,  1  can't 
keep  up  with  them." 

Charlotte  exclaimed:  "Wait!  I'm  going  to  call 
them  back!" 

She  was  rushing  away.  The  doctor's  wife  held 
her  back:  "Don't  interfere  with  them,  child,  if  they 
want  to  chat!  It  would  not  be  nice  to  disturb  them. 
They  will  come  back  all  right  by  themselves." 

And  she  sat  down  on  the  grass,  under  the  shade 
of  a  pine-tree,  fanning  herself  with  her  pocket-hand- 
kerchief. Charlotte  cast  a  look  of  distress  toward 
Paul,  a  look  imploring  and  sorrowful. 

He  understood,  and  said:  "Well,  Mademoiselle, 
we  are  going  to  let  Madame  take  a  rest,  and  we'll 
both  go  and  overtake  your  sister." 

She  answered  impetuously:     "Oh,  yes,  Monsieur." 

Madame  Honorat  made  no  objection:  "Go,  my 
children,  go.  As  for  me,  I'll  wait  for  you  here.  Don't 
be  too  long." 

And  they  started  oflF  in  their  turn.  They  walked 
quickly  at  first,  as  they  could  see  no  sign  of  the  two 
others,    and    hoped    to    come    up   with   them;    then, 


28o  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

after  a  few  minutes,  it  struck  them  that  Louise  and 
Gontran  might  have  turned  off  to  the  right  or  to  the 
left  through  the  wood,  and  Charlotte  began  to  call 
them  in  a  trembling  and  undecided  voice.  There 
was  no  response.  She  exclaimed:  "Oh!  good 
heavens,  where  can  they  be?" 

Paul  felt  himself  overcome  once  more  by  that 
profound  pity,  by  that  sympathetic  tenderness  toward 
her  which  had  previously  taken  possession  of  him  on 
the  edge  of  the  crater  of  La  Nugere. 

He  did  not  know  what  to  say  to  this  afflicted 
young  creature.  He  felt  a  longing,  a  paternal  and 
passionate  longing  to  take  her  in  his  arms,  to  em- 
brace her,  to  find  sweet  and  consoling  words  with 
which  to  soothe    her.     But  what  words.? 

She  looked  about  on  every  side,  searched  the 
branches  with  wild  glances,  listening  to  the  faintest 
sounds,  murmuring:  "I  think  that  they  are  here  — 
No,  there —    Do  you  hear  nothing.?" 

"No,  Mademoiselle,  I  don't  hear  anything.  The 
best  thing  we  can  do  is  to  wait  here." 

"Oh!    heavens,  no.     We  must  find  them!" 

He  hesitated  for  a  few  seconds,  and  then  said  to 
her  in  a  low  tone:  "This,  then,  causes  you  much 
pain  ?  " 

She  raised  toward  his  her  eyes,  in  which  there 
was  a  look  of  wild  alarm,  while  the  gathering  tears 
filled  them  with  a  transparent  watery  mist,  as  yet 
held  back  by  the  lids,  over  which  drooped  the  long, 
brown  lashes.  She  strove  to  speak,  but  could  not, 
and  did  not  venture  to  open  her  lips.  But  her 
heart  swollen,  choked  with  grief,  was  yearning  to 
pour  itself  out. 


MONTORIOL  281 

He  went  on:  "So  then  you  loved  him  very  much. 
He  is  not  worthy  of  your  love.     Take  heart!" 

She  could  not  restrain  herself  any  longer,  and 
hiding  with  her  hands  the  tears  that  now  gushed 
forth  from  her  eyes,  she  sobbed:  "No!  —  no!  —  I  do 
not  love  him  —  he — ^it  is  too  base  to  have  acted  as 
he  did.  He  made  a  tool  of  me  —  it  is  too  base  —  too 
cowardly  —  but,  all  the  same,  it  does  pain  me  —  a 
great  deal — for  it  is  hard  —  very  hard  —  oh!  yes.  But 
what  grieves  me  most  is  that  my  sister  —  my  sister 
does  not  care  for  me  any  longer  —  she  who  has  been 
even  more  wicked  than  he  was!  I  feel  that  she  no 
longer  cares  for  me  —  not  a  bit  —  that  she  hates  me 
—  I  have  only  her  —  1  have  no  one  else  —  and  1,  I 
have  done  nothing! " 

He  only  saw  her  ear  and  her  neck  with  its  young 
flesh  sinking  into  the  collar  of  her  dress  under  the 
light  material  she  wore  till  it  was  lost  in  the  curves 
of  her  bust.  And  he  felt  himself  overpowered  with 
compassion,  with  sympathy,  carried  away  by  that 
impetuous  desire  of  self-devotion  which  got  the  bet- 
ter of  him  every  time  that  a  woman  touched  his 
heart.  And  that  heart  of  his,  responsive  to  outbursts 
of  enthusiasm,  was  excited  by  this  innocent  sorrow, 
agitating,  ingenuous,  and  cruelly  charming. 

He  stretched  forth  his  hand  toward  her  with  an 
unstudied  movement  such  as  one  might  use  in  order 
to  caress,  to  calm  a  child,  and  he  drew  it  round  her 
waist  from  behind  over  her  shoulder.  Then  he  felt 
her  heart  beaming  with  rapid  throbs,  as  he  might  have 
heard  the  little  heart  of  a  bird  that  he  had  caught. 
And  this  beating,  continuous,  precipitate,  sent  a 
thrill  all  over  his  arm   into   his   heart,  accelerating  its 


282  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

movements.  And  he  felt  those  quick  heart-beats 
coming  from  her  and  penetrating  him  through  his 
flesh,  his  muscles,  and  his  nerves,  so  that  between  them 
there  was  now  only  one  heart  wounded  by  the  same 
pain,  agitated  by  the  same  palpitation,  living  the 
same  life,  like  clocks  connected  by  a  string  at  some 
distance  from  one  another  and  made  to  keep  time 
together  second  by  second. 

But  suddenly  she  uncovered  her  flushed  face,  still 
tear-dimmed,  quickly  wiped  it,  and  said: 

"Come,  I  ought  not  to  have  spoken  to  you  about 
this.  1  am  foolish.  Let  us  go  back  at  once  to  Ma- 
dame Honorat,  and  forget.     Do  you  promise  me?" 

"I  do  promise  you." 

She  gave  him  her  hand.  "1  have  confidence  in 
you.     1  believe  you  are  very  honest!" 

They  turned  back.  He  lifted  her  up  in  crossing 
the  stream,  just  as  he  had  lifted  up  Christiane,  the 
year  before.  How  often  had  he  passed  along  this 
path  with  her  in  the  days  when  he  adored  her!  He 
reflected,  wondering  at  his  own  changed  feelings: 
"How  short  a  time  this  passion  lasted!" 

Charlotte,  laying  a  finger  on  his  arm,  murmured: 
"Madame  Honorat  is  asleep.  Let  us  sit  down  with- 
out making  a  noise." 

Madame  Honorat  was,  indeed,  slumbering,  with 
her  back  to  a  pine-tree,  her  handkerchief  over  her 
face  and  her  hands  crossed  over  her  stomach.  They 
seated  themselves  a  few  paces  away  from  her,  and 
refrained  from  speaking  in  order  not  tc  awaken  her. 
Then  the  stillness  of  the  wood  was  so  profound  that 
it  became  as  painful  to  them  as  actual  suffering. 
Nothing  could  be  heard  save  the  water  gurgling  over 


MONTORIOL  283 

the  Stones,  a  little  lower  down,  then  those  imper- 
ceptible quiverings  of  insects  passing  by,  those  light 
buzzings  of  flies  or  of  other  living  creatures  whose 
movements  made  the  dead  leaves  flutter. 

Where  then  were  Louise  and  Gontran  ?  What 
were  they  doing?  All  at  once,  the  sound  of  their 
voices  reached  them  from  a  distance.  They  were 
returning.  Madame  Honorat  woke  up  and  looked 
astonished. 

"What!  you  are  here  again!  I  did  not  notice 
you  coming  back.  And  the  others,  have  you  found 
them.?" 

Paul  replied:  "There  they  are!  They  are  com- 
ing." 

They  recognized  Gontran's  laughter.  This  laughter 
relieved  Charlotte  from  a  crushing  weight,  which 
had  oppressed  her  mind  — she  could  not  have  ex- 
plained  why. 

They  were  soon  able  to  distinguish  the  pair.  Gon- 
tran had  almost  broken  into  a  running  pace,  dragging 
by  the  arm  the  young  girl,  who  was  quite  flushed. 
And,  even  before  they  had  come  up,  so  great  a  hurry 
was  he  in  to  tell  his  story,  he  shouted: 

"You  don't  know  what  we  surprised.  1  give  you 
a  thousand  guesses  to  discover  it!  The  handsome 
Doctor  Mazelli  along  with  the  daughter  of  the  illus- 
trious Professor  Cloche,  as  Will  would  say,  the  pretty 
widow  with  the  red  hair.  Oh!  yes,  indeed — sur- 
prised, you  understand  ?  He  was  embracing  her,  the 
scamp.     Oh!  yes  —  oh!  yes." 

Madame  Honorat,  at  this  immoderate  display  of 
gaiety,  made  a  dignified  movement: 

"Oh!  M.  le  Comte,  think  of  these  young  ladies!" 


284  WORKS  OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

Gontran  made  a  respectful  obeisance. 

"You  are  perfectly  right,  dear  Madame,  to  recall 
me  to  the  proprieties.  All  your  inspirations  are  ex- 
cellent." 

Then,  in  order  that  they  might  not  be  all  seen 
going  back  together,  the  two  young  men  bowed  to 
the  ladies,  and  returned  through  the  wood  to  the 
village. 

"Well.?"  asked  Paul. 

"Well,  I  told  her  that  I  adored  her  and  that  I 
would  be  delighted  to  marry  her." 

"And  she  said.?" 

"She  said,  with  charming  discretion,  'That  con- 
cerns my  father.  It  is  to  him  that  1  will  give  my 
answer.'  " 

"So  then  you  are  going  to — " 

"To  intrust  mv  ambassador  Andermatt  at  once 
with  the  official  application.  And  if  the  old  boor 
makes  any  row  about  it,  I'll  compromise  his  daugh- 
ter with  a  splash." 

And,  as  Andermatt  was  again  engaged  in  conver- 
sation with  Doctor  Latonne  on  the  terrace  of  the 
Casino,  Gontran  stopped  here,  and  immediately  made 
his  brother-in-law  acquainted  with  the  situation. 

Paul  went  off  along  the  road  to  Riom.  He  wanted 
to  be  alone  so  much  did  he  find  himself  invaded  by 
that  agitation  of  the  entire  mind  and  body  into  which 
every  meeting  with  a  woman  casts  a  man  who  is  on 
the  point  of  falling  in  love.  For  some  time  past  he 
had  felt,  without  quite  realizing  it,  the  penetrating 
and  youthful  fascination  of  this  forsaken  girl.  He 
found  her  so  nice,  so  good,  so  simple,  so  upright,  so 
innocent,  that  from   the  first    he  had    been  moved  by 


MONTORIOL  285 

compassion  for  her,  by  that  tender  compassion  with 
which  the  sorrows  of  women  always  inspire  us. 
Then,  when  he  had  seen  her  frequently,  he  had 
allowed  to  bud  forth  in  his  heart  that  grain,  that  tiny 
grain,  of  tenderness  which  they  sow  in  us  so  quickly, 
and  which  grows  to  such  a  height.  And  now,  for 
the  last  hour  especially,  he  was  beginning  to  feel 
himself  possessed,  to  feel  within  him  that  constant 
presence  of  the  absent  which  is  the  first  sign  of  love. 
He  proceeded  along  the  road,  haunted  by  the  remem- 
brance of  her  glance,  by  the  sound  of  her  voice,  by 
the  way  in  which  she  smiled  or  wept,  by  the  gait 
with  which  she  walked,  even  by  the  color  and  the 
flutter  of  her  dress.     And  he  said  to  himself: 

"1  believe  I  am  bitten.  1  know  it.  It  is  annoy- 
ing, this!  The  best  thing,  perhaps,  would  be  to  go 
back  to  Paris.  Deuce  take  it,  it  is  a  young  girl! 
However,   I  can't  make  her  my  mistress." 

Then,  he  began  dreaming  about  it,  just  as  he  had 
dreamed  about  Christiane,  the  year  before.  How 
different  was  this  one,  too,  from  all  the  women  he 
had  hitherto  known,  born  and  brought  up  in  tlie 
city,  different  even  from  those  young  maidens  sophis- 
ticated from  their  childhood  by  the  coquetry  of  their 
mothers  or  the  coquetry  which  shows  itself  in  the 
streets.  There  was  in  her  none  of  the  artificiality  of 
the  woman  prepared  for  seduction,  nothing  studied 
in  her  words,  nothing  conventional  in  her  actions, 
nothing  deceitful  in  her  looks.  Not  only  was  she 
a  being  fresh  and  pure,  but  she  came  of  a  primitive 
race;  she  was  a  true  daughter  of  the  soil  at  the  mo- 
ment when  she  was  about  to  be  transformed  into  a 
woman  of  the  city. 


286  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

And  he  felt  himself  stirred  up,  pleading  for  her 
against  that  vague  resistance  which  still  struggled  in 
his  breast.  The  forms  of  heroines  in  sentimental 
novels  passed  before  his  mind's  eye  —  the  creations  of 
Walter  Scott,  of  Dickens,  and  of  George  Sand,  excit- 
ing the  more  his  imagination,  always  goaded  by  ideal 
pictures  of  women. 

Gontran  passed  judgment  on  him  thus:  "Paul! 
he  is  a  pack-horse  with  a  Cupid  on  his  back.  When 
he  flings  one  on  the  ground,  another  jumps  up  in  its 
place."  But  Bretigny  saw  that  night  was  falling. 
He  had  been  a  long  time  walking.  He  returned  to 
the  village. 

As  he  was  passing  in  front  of  the  new  baths,  he 
saw  Andermatt  and  the  two  Oriols  surveying  and 
measuring  the  vinefields;  and  he  knew  from  their 
gestures  that  they  were  disputing  in  an  excited 
fashion. 

An  hour  afterward,  Will,  entering  the  drawing- 
room,  where  the  entire  family  had  assembled,  said  to 
the  Marquis:  "My  dear  father-in-law,  1  have  to  in- 
form you  that  your  son  Gontran  is  going  to  marry, 
in  six  weeks  or  two  months,  Mademoiselle  Louise 
Oriol." 

M.    de    Ravenel    was    startled:     "Gontran?     You 

'say.?" 

"1  say  that  he  is  going  to  marry  in  six  weeks  or 
two  months,  with  your  consent.  Mademoiselle  Louise 
Oriol,  who  will  be  very  rich." 

Thereupon  the  Marquis  said  simply:  "Good 
heavens!  if  he  likes  it,   1  have  no  objection." 

And  the  banker  related  how  he  had  dealt  with  the 
old    countryman.     As   soon    as    he   had    learned   from 


MONT    ORIOL  287 

the  Comte  that  the  young  girl  would  consent,  he 
wanted  to  obtain,  at  one  interview,  the  vinedresser's 
assent  without  giving  him  time  to  prepare  any  of  his 
dodges.  He  accordingly  hurried  to  Oriol's  house, 
and  found  him  making  up  his  accounts  with  great 
difficulty,  assisted  by  Colosse,  who  was  adding 
figures  together  with  his  fingers. 

Seating  himself:  "I  would  like  to  drink  of  your 
excellent  wine,"  said  he. 

When  big  Colosse  had  returned  with  the  glasses 
and  the  jug  brimming  over,  he  asked  whether  Made- 
moiselle Louise  had  come  home;  then  he  begged  of 
them  to  send  for  her.  When  she  stood  facing  him, 
he  rose,  and,  making  her  a  low  bow: 

"Mademoiselle,  will  you  regard  me  at  this  mo- 
ment as  a  friend  to  whom  one  may  say  everything.? 
Is  it  not  so  ?  Wei],  1  am  charged  with  a  very  deli- 
cate mission  with  reference  to  you.  My  brother-in- 
law,  Comte  Raoul-Olivier-Gontran  de  Ravenel,  is 
smitten  with  you  —  a  thing  for  which  I  commend 
him  —  and  he  has  commissioned  me  to  ask  you,  in 
the  presence  of  your  family,  whether  you  will  con- 
sent to  become  his  wife." 

Taken  by  surprise  in  this  way,  she  turned  toward 
her  father  her  eyes,  which  betrayed  her  confusion. 
And  Pere  Oriol,  scared,  looked  at  his  son,  his  usual 
counselor,  while  Colosse  looked  at  Andermatt,  who 
went  on,  with  a  certain  amount  of  pomposity: 

"You  understand.  Mademoiselle,  that  1  am  only 
intrusted  with  this  mission  on  the  terms  of  an  im- 
mediate reply  being  given  to  my  brother-in-law.  He 
is  quite  conscious  of  the  fact  that  you  may  not  care 
for  him,  and  in  that  case  he  will  quit  this    neighbor- 


288  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

hood  to-morrow,  never  to  come  back  to  it  again.  I 
am  aware,  besides,  that  you  know  him  sufficiently  to 
say  to  me,  a  simple  intermediary,  'I  consent,'  or  'I 
do  not  consent/  " 

She  hung  down  her  head,  and,  blushing,  but  res- 
olute, she  faltered:   "1  consent.  Monsieur." 

Then  she  fled  so  quickly  that  she  knocked  herself 
against  the  door  as  she  went  out. 

Thereupon,  Andermatt  sat  down,  and,  pouring  out 
a  glass  of  wine  after  the  fashion  of  peasants: 

"Now  we  are  going  to  talk  about  business,"  said  he. 

And,  without  admitting  the  possibility  even  of 
hesitation,  he  attacked  the  question  of  the  dowry,  re- 
lying on  the  declarations  made  to  him  by  the  vine- 
dresser three  months  before.  He  estimated  at  three 
hundred  thousand  francs,  in  addition  to  expectations, 
the  actual  fortune  of  Gontran,  and  he  let  it  be  under- 
stood that  if  a  man  like  the  Comte  de  Ravenel  con- 
sented to  ask  for  the  hand  of  Oriol's  daughter,  a  very 
charming  young  lady  in  other  respects,  it  was  un- 
questionable that  the  girl's  family  were  bound  to  show 
their  appreciation  of  this  honor  by  a  sacrifice  of 
money. 

Then  the  countryman,  much  disconcerted,  but  flat- 
tered—  almost  disarmed,  tried  to  make  a  fight  for  his 
property.  The  discussion  was  a  long  one.  An  ad- 
mission on  Andermatt's  part  had,  however,  rendered 
it  easy  from  the  start: 

"We  don't  ask  for  ready  money  nor  for  bills  — 
nothing  but  the  lands,  those  which  you  have  already 
indicated  as  forming  Mademoiselle  Louise's  dowry,  in 
addition  to  some  others  which  1  am  going  to  point 
you." 


MONTORIOL  289 

The  prospect  of  not  having  to  pay  money,  that 
money  slowly  heaped  together,  brought  into  the  house 
franc  after  franc,  sou  after  sou,  that  good  money, 
white  or  yellow,  worn  by  the  hands,  the  purses,  the 
pockets,  the  tables  of  cafes,  the  deep  drawers  of  old 
presses,  that  money  in  whose  ring  was  told  the  his- 
tory of  so  many  troubles,  cares,  fatigues,  labors,  so 
sweet  to  the  heart,  to  the  eyes,  to  the  fingers  of  the 
peasant,  dearer  than  the  cow,  than  the  vine,  than  the 
field,  than  the  house,  that  money  harder  to  part  with 
sometimes  than  life  itself — the  prospect  of  not  seeing 
it  go  v/ith  the  girl  brought  on  immediately  a  great 
calm,  a  desire  to  conciliate,  a  secret  but  restrained 
joy,  in  the  souls  of  the  father  and  the  son. 

They  continued  the  discussion,  however,  in  order 
to  keep  a  few  more  acres  of  soil.  On  the  table  was 
spread  out  a  minute  plan  of  Mont  Oriol;  and  they 
marked  one  by  one  with  a  cross  the  portions  assigned 
to  Louise.  It  took  an  hour  for  Andermatt  to  secure 
the  last  two  pieces.  Then,  in  order  that  there  might 
not  be  any  deceit  on  one  side  or  the  other,  they  went 
over  all  the  places  on  the  plan.  After  that,  they 
identified  carefully  all  the  slices  designated  by  crosses, 
and  marked  them  afresh. 

But  Andermatt  got  uneasy,  suspecting  that  the  two 
Oriols  were  capable  of  denying,  at  their  next  inter- 
view, a  part  of  the  grants  to  which  they  had  con- 
sented and  would  seek  to  take  back  ends  of  vinefields, 
corners  useful  for  his  project;  and  he  thought  of  a 
practical  and  certain  means  of  giving  definiteness  to 
the  agreement. 

An  idea  crossed  his  mind,  made  him  smile  at  first, 
then  appeared  to  him  excellent,  although  singular. 

8     G.  de  M.— 19 


290 


WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


"If  you  like,"  said  he,  "we'll  write  it  all  out.  so 
as  not  to  forget  it  later  on." 

And  as  they  were  entering  the  village,  he  stopped 
before  a  tobacconist's  shop  to  buy  two  stamped  sheets 
of  paper.  He  knew  that  the  list  of  lands  drawn  up 
on  these  leaves  with  their  legal  aspect  would  take  an 
almost  inviolable  character  in  the  peasant's  eyes,  for 
these  leaves  would  represent  the  law,  always  invisi- 
ble and  menacing,  vindicated  by  gendarmes,  fines,  and 
imprisonment. 

Then  he  wrote  on  one  sheet  and  copied  on  the 
other: 

"In  pursuance  of  the  promise  of  marriage  exchanged  between 
Comte  Gontran  de  Ravenel  and  Mademoiselle  Louise  Oriol,  M.  Oriol, 
Senior,  surrenders  as  a  dowry  to  his  daughter  the  lands  designated 
below — " 

And  he  enumerated  them  minutely,  with  the  figures 
attached  to  them  in  the  register  of  lands  for  the 
district. 

Then,  having  dated  and  signed  the  document,  he 
made  Pere  Oriol  affix  his  signature,  after  the  latter 
had  exacted  in  turn  a  written  statement  of  the  in- 
tended husband's  fortune,  and  he  went  back  to  the 
hotel  with  the  document  in  his  pocket. 

Everyone  laughed  at  his  narrative  and  Gontran 
most  of  all.  Then  the  Marquis  said  to  his  son  with 
a  lofty  air  of  dignity:  "We  shall  both  go  this  even- 
ing to  pay  a  visit  to  this  f^imily,  and  I  shall  myself 
renew  the  application  previously  made  by  my  son-in- 
law  in  order  that  it  may  be  more  regular." 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


Paul   Changes   His   Mind 


ONTRAN  made  an  admirable  fianci,  as 
courteous    as     he    was    assiduous. 
With  the  aid  of  Andermatt's  purse, 
he  made  presents  to  everyone;  and  he 
constantly  visited  the  young  girl,  either 
at  her  own  house,  or  that  of  Madame 
Honorat.      Paul    nearly   always   accom- 
panied  him    now,  in  order  to   have   the 
opportunity  of  meeting  Charlotte,  saying 
to  himself,  after  each  visit,  that    he  would 
see  her  no  more. 

She  had  bravely  resigned  herself  to  her 
sister's  marriage,  and  she  referred  to  it  with 
apparent  unconcern,  as  if  it  did  not  cause  her  the 
slightest  anxiety.  Her  character  alone  seemed  a  little 
altered,  more  sedate,  less  open.  While  Gontran  was 
talking  soft  nothings  to  Louise  in  a  half-whisper  in  a 
corner,  Bretigny  conversed  with  her  in  a  serious  fash- 
ion, and  allowed  himself  to  be  slowly  vanquished, 
allowed  this  fresh  love  to  inundate  his  soul  like  a 
flowing  tide.  He  knew  what  was  happening  to  him, 
and  gave  himself  up  to  it,  thinking:  "Bah!  when  the 
moment  arrives.   1  will   make  my  escape  —  that's  all." 

(29O 


292 


WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 


When  he  left  her,  he  would  go  up  to  see  Chris- 
tiane,  who  now  lay  from  morning  till  night  stretched 
on  a  long  chair.  At  the  door,  he  could  not  help 
feeling  nervous  and  irritated,  prepared  beforehand  for 
those  light  quarrels  to  which  weariness  gives  birth. 
All  that  she  said,  all  that  she  was  thinking  of, 
annoyed  him,  even  ere  she  had  opened  her  lips.  Her 
appearance  of  suffering,  her  resigned  attitude,  her 
looks  of  reproach  and  of  supplication,  made  words  of 
anger  rise  to  his  lips,  which  he  repressed  through 
good-breeding;  and,  even  when  by  her  side,  he  kept 
before  his  mind  the  constant  memory,  the  fixed 
image,  of  the  young  girl  whom  he  had   just  quitted. 

As  Christiane,  tormented  with  seeing  so  little  of 
him,  overwhelmed  him  with  questions  as  to  how  he 
spent  his  days,  he  invented  stories,  to  which  she 
listened  attentively,  seeking  to  find  out  v^hether  he 
was  thinking  of  some  other  woman.  The  power- 
lessness  which  she  felt  in  herself  to  keep  a  hold  on 
this  man,  the  powerlessness  to  pour  into  him  a  little 
of  that  love  with  which  she  was  tortured,  the  phys- 
ical powerlessness  to  fascinate  him  still,  to  give  her- 
self to  him,  to  win  him  back  by  caresses,  since  she 
could  not  regain  him  by  the  tender  intimacies  of 
love,  made  her  suspect  the  vv^orst,  without  knowing 
on  what  to  fix  her   fears. 

She  vaguely  realized  that  some  danger  was  low- 
ering over  her,  some  great  unknown  danger.  And 
she  was  filled  with  undefined  jealousy,  jealousy  of 
everything  —  of  women  whom  she  saw  passing  by 
her  window,  and  whom  she  thought  charming,  with- 
out even  having  any  proof  that  Bretigny  had  ever 
spoken  to  them. 


MON  r    ORIOL 


293 


She  asked  of  him:  "Have  you  noticed  a  very 
pretty  woman,  a  brunette,  rather  tall,  whom  I  saw  a 
little  while  ago,  and  who  must  have  arrived  here 
within  the  past   few  days?" 

When  he  replied,  "No,  I  don't  know  her,"  she  at 
once  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  lying, 
turned  pale,  and  went  on:  "But  it  is  not  possible 
that  you  have  not  seen  her.  She  appears  to  me  very 
beautiful." 

He  was  astonished  at  her  persistency.  "  1  assure 
you  I  have  not  seen  her.     I'll  try  to  come  across  her." 

She  thought:  "Surely  it  must  be  she!"  She  felt 
persuaded,  too,  on  certain  days,  that  he  was  hiding 
some  intrigue  in  the  locality,  that  he  had  sent  for  his 
mistress,  an  actress  perhaps.  And  she  questioned 
everybody,  her  father,  her  brother,  and  her  husband, 
about  all  the  women  young  and  desirable,  whom 
they  observed  in  the  neighborhood  of  Enval.  If  only 
she  could  have  walked  about,  and  seen  for  herself, 
she  might  have  reassured  herself  a  little;  but  the 
almost  complete  loss  of  motion  which  her  condition 
forced  upon  her  now  made  her  endure  an  intolerable 
martyrdom. 

When  she  spoke  to  Paul,  the  tone  of  her  voice 
alone  revealed  her  anguish,  and  intensified  his  nerv- 
ous impatience  with  this  love,  which  for  him  was  at 
an  end.  He  could  no  longer  talk  quietly  about  any- 
thing with  her  save  the  approaching  marriage  of 
Gontran,  a  subject  which  enabled  him  to  pronounce 
Charlotte's  name,  and  to  give  vent  to  his  thoughts 
aloud  about  the  young  girl.  And  it  was  a  mysteri- 
ous source  of  delight  to  him  even  to  hear  Christiane 
articulating  that  name,  praising   the   grace  and  all  the 


294  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

qualities  of  this  little  maiden,  compassionating  her, 
regretting  that  her  brother  should  have  sacrificed  her, 
and  expressing  a  desire  that  some  man,  some  noble 
heart,  should  appreciate  her,  love  her,  and  marry  her. 

He  said:  "Oh!  yes,  Gontran  acted  foolishly  there. 
She  is  perfectly  charming,  that  young  girl." 

Christiane,  without  any  misgiving,  echoed:  "Per- 
fectly charming.  She  is  a  pearl!  a  piece  of  perfec- 
tion!" 

Never  had  she  thought  that  a  man  like  Paul  could 
love  a  little  maid  like  this,  or  that  he  would  be  likely 
to  marry  her.  She  had  no  apprehensions  save  of  his 
mistresses.  And  it  was  a  singular  phenomenon  of 
the  heart  that  praise  of  Charlotte  from  Christiane's 
lips  assumed  in  his  eyes  an  extreme  value,  excited 
his  love,  whetted  his  desire,  and  surrounded  the 
young  girl  with  an  irresistible  attraction. 

Now,  one  day,  when  he  called  at  Madame  Hono- 
rat's  house  to  meet  there  the  Oriol  girls,  they  found 
Doctor  Mazelli  installed  there  as  if  he  was  at  home. 
He  stretched  forth  both  hands  to  the  two  young 
men,  with  that  Italian  smile  of  his,  which  seemed  to 
give  away  his  entire  heart  with  every  word  and 
every  movement. 

Gontran  and  he  were  linked  by  a  friendship  at 
once  familiar  and  futile,  made  up  of  secret  affinities, 
of  hidden  likenesses,  of  a  sort  of  confederacy  of  in- 
stincts,   rather    than    any  real    affection  or  confidence. 

The  Comte  asked:  "What  about  your  little 
blonde  of  the  Sans-Souci  wood?" 

The  Italian  smiled:  "Bah!  we  are  on  terms  of 
indifference  toward  one  another.  She  is  one  of  those 
women  who  offer  everything  and  give  nothing." 


MONT    ORIOL 


295 


And  they  began  to  chat.  The  handsome  physi- 
cian performed  certain  offices  for  the  young  girls, 
especially  for  Charlotte.  When  addressing  women, 
he  manifested  a  perpetual  adoration  in  his  voice,  his 
gestures,  and  his  looks.  His  entire  person,  from 
head  to  foot,  said  to  them,  "1  love  you"  with  an 
eloquence  in  his  attitude  which  never  failed  to  win 
their  favor.  He  displayed  the  graces  of  an  actress, 
the  light  pirouettes  of  a  danseuse,  the  supple  move- 
ments of  a  juggler,  an  entire  science  of  seduction 
natural  and  acquired,  of  which  he  constantly  made 
use, 

Paul,  when  returning  to  the  hotel  with  Gontran, 
exclaimed  in  a  tone  of  sullen  vexation:  "What  does 
this  charlatan  come  to  that  house  for.?" 

The  Comte  replied  quietly:  "How  can  you  ever 
tell  when  dealing  with  such  adventurers  ?  These  sort 
of  people  slip  in  everywhere.  This  fellow  must  be 
tired  of  his  vagabond  existence,  and  of  giving  way 
to  every  caprice  of  his  Spaniard,  of  whom  he  is 
rather  the  valet  than  the  physician  —  and  perhaps 
something  more.  He  is  looking  about  him.  Professor 
Cloche's  daughter  was  a  good  catch  —  he  has  failed 
with  her,  he  says.  The  second  of  the  Oriol  girls 
would  not  be  less  valuable  to  him.  He  is  making 
the  attempt,  feeling  his  way,  smelling  about,  sound- 
ing. He  would  become  co-proprietor  of  the  waters, 
would  try  to  knock  over  that  idiot,  Latonne,  would  in 
any  case  get  an  excellent  practice  here  every  summer 
for  himself,  which  would  last  him  over  the  winter. 
Faith!    this  is  his  plan  exactly  —  no  doubt  of  it!" 

A  dull  rage,  a  jealous  animosity,  was  aroused 
in  Paul's  heart.     A  voice  exclaimed:  "Hey!  hey!"    It 


296 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 


was  Mazelli,  who  had  overtaken  them.  Bretigny  said 
to  him,  with  aggressive  irony:  "Where  are  you 
rushing  so  quickly,  doctor  ?  One  would  say  that 
you  were  pursuing  fortune."  The  Italian  smiled,  and, 
without  stopping,  but  skipping  backward,  he  plunged, 
with  a  mimic's  graceful  movement,  his  hands  into 
his  two  pockets,  quickly  turned  them  out  and  showed 
them,  both  empty,  holding  them  wide  between  two 
fingers  by  the  ends  of  the  seams.  Then  he  said:  "I 
have  not  got  hold  of  it  yet."  And,  turning  on  his 
toes,  he  rushed  away  like  a  man  in  a  great  hurry. 

They  found  him  again  several  times,  on  the  fol- 
lowing days,  at  Doctor  Honorat's  house,  where  he 
made  himself  useful  to  the  three  ladies  by  a  thousand 
graceful  little  services,  by  the  same  clever  tactics 
which  he  had  no  doubt  adopted  when  dealing  with 
the  Duchess.  He  knew  how  to  do  everything  to 
perfection,  from  paying  compliments  to  making  mac- 
aroni. He  was,  moreover,  an  excellent  cook,  and 
protecting  himself  from  stains  by  means  of  a  serv- 
ant's blue  apron,  and  wearing  a  chef's  cap  made  of 
paper  on  his  head,  while  he  sang  Neapolitan  ditties 
in  Italian,  he  did  the  work  of  a  scullion,  without 
appearing  a  bit  ridiculous,  amusing  and  f^iscinating 
everybody,  down  to  the  half-witted  housekeeper,  who 
said  of  him:  "He  is  a  marvel!" 

His  plans  were  soon  obvious,  and  Paul  no  longer 
had  any  doubt  that  he  was  trying  to  get  Charlotte  to 
fall  in  love  with  him.  He  seemed  to  be  succeeding  in 
this.  He  was  so  profuse  of  flattery,  so  eager,  so 
artful  in  striving  to  please,  that  the  young  girl's  face 
had,  when  she  looked  at  him,  that  air  ot  content- 
ment which  indicates  that  the  heart  is  gratified. 


MONT    ORIOL 


297 


Paul,  in  his  turn,  without  being  even  able  to  ac- 
count to  himself  for  his  conduct,  assumed  the  attitude 
of  a  lover,  and  set  himself  up  as  a  rival.  When  he 
saw  the  doctor  with  Charlotte,  he  would  come  on  the 
scene,  and,  with  his  more  direct  manner,  exert  him- 
self to  win  the  young  girl's  atTections.  He  showed 
himself  straigthforward  and  sympathetic,  fraternal,  de- 
voted, repeating  to  her,  with  the  sincerity  of  a  friend, 
in  a  tone  so  frank  that  one  could  scarcely  see  in  it  an 
avowal  of  love:   "I  am  very  fond  of  you;  cheer  up!" 

Mazelli,  astonished  at  this  unexpected  rivalry,  had 
recourse  to  all  his  powers  of  captivation;  and,  when 
Bretigny,  bitten  with  jealousy,  that  nai've  jealousy 
which  takes  possession  of  a  man  when  he  is  dealing 
with  any  woman,  even  without  being  in  love  with 
her,  provided  only  he  has  taken  a  f^mcy  to  her  — 
when,  filled  with  this  natural  violence,  he  became 
aggressive  and  haughty,  the  other,  more  pliant, 
always  master  of  himself,  replied  with  sly  allusions, 
witticisms,  well-turned  and  mocking  compliments. 

It  was  a  daily  warfare  which  they  both  waged 
fiercely,  without  either  of  them  perhaps  having  a 
well-defined  object  in  view.  They  did  not  want  to 
give  way,  like  two  dogs  who  have  gained  a  grip  of 
the  same  quarry. 

Charlotte  had  recovered  her  good  humor,  but 
along  with  it  she  now  exhibited  a  more  biting  wag- 
gery, a  certain  sphinx-like  attitude,  less  candor  in  her 
smile  and  in  her  glance.  One  would  have  said  that 
Gontran's  desertion  had  educated  her,  prepared  her 
for  possible  deceptions,  disciplined,  and  armed  her. 

She  played  off  her  two  admirers  against  one  an- 
other in   a   sly  and   dexterous  fashion,  saying  to  each 


298  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

of  them  what  she  thought  necessary,  without  letting 
the  one  fall  foul  of  the  other,  without  ever  letting 
the  one  suppose  that  she  preferred  the  other,  laugh- 
ing slightly  at  each  of  them  in  turn  in  the  presence 
of  his  rival,  leaving  them  an  equal  match  without 
appearing  even  to  take  either  of  them  seriously.  But 
all  this  was  done  simply,  in  the  manner  of  a  school- 
girl rather  than  in  that  of  a  coquette,  with  that  mis- 
chievous air  exhibited  by  young  girls  which  sometimes 
renders  them  irresistible. 

Mazelli,  however,  seemed  suddenly  to  be  having 
the  advantage.  He  had  apparently  become  more  in- 
timate with  her,  as  if  a  secret  understanding  had  been 
established  between  them.  While  talking  to  her,  he 
played  lightly  with  her  parasol  and  with  one  of  the 
ribbons  of  her  dress,  which  appeared  to  Paul,  as  it 
were,  an  act  of  moral  possession,  and  exasperated 
him  so  much  that  he  longed  to  box  the  Italian's 
ears. 

But,  one  day,  at  Pere  Oriol's  house,  while  Bretigny 
was  chatting  with  Louise  and  Gontran,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  keeping  his  eye  fixed  on  Mazelli,  who 
was  telling  Charlotte  in  a  subdued  voice  some  things 
that  made  her  smile,  he  suddenly  saw  her  blush  with 
such  an  appearance  of  embarrassment  as  to  leave  no 
doubt  for  one  moment  on  his  mind  that  the  other 
had  spoken  of  love.  She  had  cast  down  her  eyes, 
and  ceased  to  smile,  but  still  continued  listening;  and 
Paul,  who  felt  disposed  to  make  a  scene,  said  to 
Gontran:  "Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  come  out 
with  me  for  five  minutes?" 

The  Comte  made  his  excuses  to  his  betrothed, 
and  followed  his  friend. 


MONT    ORIOL  299 

When  they  were  in  the  street,  Paul  exdaimed: 
"My  dear  fellow,  this  wretched  Italian  must,  at  any 
cost,  be  prevented  from  inveigling  this  girl,  who  is 
defenseless  against  him." 

"What  do  you  wish  me  to  do?" 

"To  warn  her  of  the  fact  that  he  is  an  adven- 
turer." 

"Hey,  my  dear  boy,  those  things  are  no  concern 
of  mine." 

"After  all,  she  is  to  be  your  sister-in-law." 

"Yes,  but  there  is  nothing  to  show  me  conclu- 
sively that  Mazelli  has  guilty  designs  upon  her.  He 
exhibits  the  same  gallantry  toward  all  women,  and 
he  has  never  said  or  done  anything  improper." 

"Well,  if  you  don't  want  to  take  it  on  yourself, 
I'll  do  it,  although  it  concerns  me  less  assuredly  than 
it  does  you." 

"So  then  you  are  in  love  with  Charlotte?" 

"i?  No  —  but  I  see  clearly  through  this  black- 
guard's game." 

"My  dear  fellow,  you  are  mixing  yourself  up  in 
matters  of  a  delicate  nature,  and  —  unless  you  are  in 
love  with  Charlotte  —  " 

"No — -1  am  not  in  love  with  her  —  but  I  am 
hunting  down  imposters,  that's  what  1  mean!" 

"May  I  ask  what  you  intend  to  do?" 

"To  thrash  this  beggar." 

"Good!  the  best  way  to  make  her  fall  in  love 
with  him.  You  fight  with  him,  and  whether  he 
wounds  you,  or  you  wound  him,  he  will  become  a 
hero  in  her  eyes." 

"What  would  you  do  then?" 

"In  your  place?" 


300 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


"In  my  place." 

"I  would  speak  to  the  girl  as  a  friend.  She  has 
great  confidence  in  you.  Well,  I  would  say  to  her 
simply  in  a  few  words  what  these  hangers-on  of 
society  are.  You  know  very  well  how  to  say  these 
things.  You  possess  an  eloquent  tongue.  And  I 
would  make  her  understand,  first,  why  he  is  attached 
to  the  Spaniard;  secondly,  why  he  attempted  to  lay 
siege  to  Professor  Cloche's  daughter;  thirdly,  why, 
not  having  succeeded  in  this  effort,  he  is  striving,  in 
the  last  place,  to  make  a  conquest  of  Mademoiselle 
Charlotte  Oriol." 

"Why  do  you  not  do  that,  yourself,  who  will  be 
her  brother-in-law?" 

"Because  —  because  —  on  account  of  what  passed 
between  us  —  come!     I  can't." 

"That's  quite  right.     I  am  going  to  speak  to  her." 

"Do  you  want  me  to  procure  for  you  a  private 
conversation  with  her  immediately.?" 

"Why,  yes,  assuredly." 

"Good!  Walk  about  for  ten  minutes.  I  am  going 
to  carry  off  Louise  and  Mazelli,  and,  when  you  come 
back,  you  will  find  the  other  alone." 

Paul  Bretigny  rambled  along  the  side  of  the  Enval 
gorges,  thinking  over  the  best  way  of  opening  this 
difficult  conversation. 

He  found  Charlotte  Oriol  alone,  indeed,  on  his  re- 
turn, in  the  cold,  whitewashed  parlor  of  the  paternal 
abode;  and  he  said  to  her,  as  he  sat  down  beside 
her:  "It  is  I,  Mademoiselle,  who  asked  Gontran  to 
procure  me  this  interview  with  you." 

She  looked  at  him  with  her  clear  eyes:  "Why, 
pray  ?  " 


MONT    ORIOL 


301 


"Oh!  it  is  not  to  pay  you  insipid  compliments  in 
the  Italian  fashion.  It  is  to  speak  to  you  as  a  friend 
■ — as  a  very  devoted  friend,  who  owes  you  good  ad- 
vice." 

"Tell  me  what  it  is." 

He  took  up  the  subject  in  a  roundabout  style, 
dwelt  upon  his  own  experience,  and  upon  her  inex- 
perience, so  as  to  lead  gradually  by  discreet  but  ex- 
plicit phrases  to  a  reference  to  those  adventurers  who 
are  everywhere  going  in  quest  of  fortune,  taking  ad- 
vantage with  their  professional  skill  of  every  ingen- 
uous and  good-natured  being,  man  or  woman,  whose 
purses  or  hearts  they  explored. 

She  turned  rather  pale  as  she  listened  to  him. 

Then  she  said:  "I  understand  and  I  don't  under- 
stand.    You  are  speaking  of  some  one  —  of  whom?" 

"  I  am  speaking  of  Doctor  Mazelli." 

Then,  she  lowered  her  eyes,  and  remained  a  few 
seconds  without  replying;  after  this,  in  a  hesitating 
voice:  "You  are  so  frank  that  I  will  be  the  same 
with  you.  Since  —  since  my  sister's  marriage  has 
been  arranged,  I  have  become  a  little  less  —  a  little 
less  stupid!  Well,  I  had  already  suspected  what  you 
tell  me  —  and  I  used  to  feel  amused  of  my  own  ac- 
cord at  seeing  him  coming." 

She  raised  her  face  to  his  as  she  spoke,  and  in 
her  smile,  in  her  arch  look,  in  her  little  reiroussi 
nose,  in  the  moist  and  glittering  brilliancy  of  her 
teeth  which  showed  themselves  between  her  lips,  so 
much  open-hearted  gracefulness,  sly  gaiety,  and  charm- 
ing frolicsomcness  appeared  that  Bretigny  felt  himself 
drawn  toward  her  by  one  of  those  tumultuous  trans- 
ports which  flung  him  distracted  with  passion  it  the 


902  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE    MAUPASSANT 

feet  of  the  woman  who  was  his  latest  love.  And  his 
heart  exulted  with  joy  because  Mazelli  had  not  been 
preferred  to  him.     So  then  he  had  triumphed. 

He  asked:   "You  do  not  love  him,  then.?" 

"Whom?     Mazelli.?" 

"Yes." 

She  looked  at  him  with  such  a  pained  expression 
in  her  eyes  that  he  felt  thrown  off  his  balance,  and 
stammered,  in  a  supplicating  voice:  "What?  —  you 
don't  love  —  anyone?" 

She  replied,  with  a  downward  glance:  "1  don't 
know  —  I  love  people  who  love  me." 

He  seized  the  young  girl's  two  hands,  all  at 
once,  and  kissing  them  wildly  in  one  of  those  mo- 
ments of  impulse  in  which  the  head  loses  its  controll- 
ing power,  and  the  words  which  rise  to  the  lips  come 
from  the  excited  flesh  rather  than  the  wandering 
mind,  he  faltered: 

"I!  —  I  love  you,  my  little  Charlotte;  yes,  I  love 
you!" 

She  quickly  drew  away  one  of  her  hands,  and 
placed  it  on  his  mouth,  murmuring:  "Be  silent! — be 
silent,  I  beg  of  you!  It  would  cause  me  too  much 
pain  if  this  were  another  falsehood." 

She  stood  erect;  he  rose  up,  caught  her  in  his 
arms,  and  embraced  her  passionately. 

A  sudden  noise  parted  them ;  Pere  Oriol  had  just 
come  in,  and  he  was  gazing  at  them,  quite  scared. 
Then,  he  cried:  "Ah!  bougrrre!  ah!  bougrrre!  ah! 
bougrrre  of  a  savage!" 

Charlotte  had  rushed  out,  and  the  two  men  re- 
mained face  to  face.  After  some  seconds  of  agitation, 
Paul  made  an  attempt  to  explain  his  position. 


MONT    ORIOL 


303 


"My  God!  Monsieur — I  have  conducted  myself — 
it  is  true  —  like  a — " 

But  the  old  man  would  not  listen  to  him.  Anger, 
furious  anger,  had  taken  possession  of  him,  and  he 
advanced  toward  Bretigny,  with  clenched  fists,  re- 
peating: 

"Ah!    bougrrre  of  a  savage — " 

Then,  when  they  were  nose  to  nose,  he  seized 
Paul  by  the  collar  with    his    knotted   peasant's  hands. 

But  the  other,  as  tall,  and  strong  with  that  superior 
strength  acquired  by  the  practice  of  athletics,  freed 
himself  with  a  single  push  from  the  countryman's 
grip,  and,  pushing  him  up  against  the  wall: 

"Listen,  Pere  Oriol,  this  is  not  a  matter  for  us  to 
fight  about,  but  to  settle  quietly.  It  is  true,  I  was 
embracing  your  daughter.  I  swear  to  you  that  this 
is  the  first  time  —  and  I  swear  to  you,  too,  that  1  de- 
sire to  marry  her." 

The  old  man,  whose  physical  excitement  had  sub- 
sided under  the  assault  ot  his  adversary,  but  whose 
anger  had  not  yet  been  calmed,  stuttered: 

"Ha!  that's  how  it  is!  You  want  to  steal  my  daugh- 
ter; you  want  my  money.      Bougrrre  of  a  deceiver!" 

Thereupon,  he  allowed  all  that  was  on  his  mind 
to  escape  from  him  in  a  heap  of  grumbling  words. 
He  found  no  consolation  for  the  dowry  promised  with 
his  elder  girl,  for  his  vinelands  going  into  the  hands 
of  these  Parisians.  He  now  had  his  suspicions  as  to 
Gontran's  want  of  money,  Andermatt's  craft,  and, 
without  forgetting  the  unexpected  fortune  which  the 
banker  brought  him,  he  vented  his  bile  and  his  secret 
rancor  against  those  mischievous  people  who  did  not 
let  him  sleep  any  longer  in  peace. 


304 


WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 


One  would  have  thought  that  his  family  and  his 
friends  were  coming  every  night  to  plunder  him,  to 
rob  him  of  everything,  his  lands,  his  springs,  and  his 
daughters.  And  he  cast  these  reproaches  into  Paul's 
face,  accusing  him  also  of  wanting  to  get  hold  of  his 
property,  of  being  a  rogue,  and  of  taking  Charlotte  in 
order  to  have  his  lands. 

The  other,  soon  losing  all  patience,  shouted  under 
his  very  nose:  "Why,  1  am  richer  than  you,  you 
infernally  currish  old  donkey.  1  would  bring  you 
money." 

The  old  man  listened  in  silence  to  these  words, 
incredulous  but  vigilant,  and  then,  in  a  milder  tone, 
he  renewed  his  complaints. 

Paul  then  answered  him  and  entered  into  expla- 
nations; and,  believing  that  an  obligation  was  im- 
posed on  him,  owing  to  the  circumstances  under 
which  he  had  been  surprised,  and  for  which  he  was 
solely  responsible,  he  proposed  to  marry  the  girl 
without  asking  for  any  dowry. 

Pere  Oriol  shook  his  head  and  his  ears,  heard  Paul 
reiterating  his  statements,  but  was  unable  to  under- 
stand. To  him  this  young  man  seemed  still  a  pauper, 
a  penniless  wretch. 

And,  when  Bretigny,  exasperated,  yelled,  in  his 
teeth:  "Why,  you  old  rascal,  1  have  an  income  of 
more  than  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  francs  a 
year  —  do  you  understand?  —  three  millions,"  the  other 
suddenly  asked:  "Will  you  write  that  down  on  a 
piece  of  paper?" 

"Yes,  1  will  write  it  down!" 

"And  you'll  sign  it?" 

"Yes,  I  will  sign  it." 


MONT    ORIOL 


^05 


"On  a  sheet  of  notary's  paper?" 

"Yes,  certainly  —  on  a  sheet  of  notary's  paper!" 

Thereupon,  he  rose  up,  opened  a  press,  took  out 
of  it  two  leaves  marked  with  the  Government  stamp, 
and,  seeking  for  the  undertaking  which  Andermatt,  a 
few  days  before,  had  required  from  him,  he  drew  up 
an  odd  promise  of  marriage,  in  which  it  was  made  a 
condition  that  the  fianci  vouched  for  his  being  worth 
three  millions;  and,  at  the  end  of  it  Bretigny  affixed 
his  signature. 

When  Paul  found  himself  in  the  open  air  once 
more,  he  felt  as  if  the  earth  no  longer  turned  round 
in  the  same  way.  So  then,  he  was  engaged,  in  spite 
of  himself,  in  spite  of  her,  by  one  of  those  accidents, 
by  one  of  those  tricks  of  circumstance,  which  shut 
out  from  you  every  point  of  escape.  He  muttered: 
"What  madness!"  Then  he  reflected:  "Bah!  I 
could  not  have  found  better  perhaps  in  all  the  world!" 

And  in  his  secret  heart  he  rejoiced  at  this  snare  of 
destiny. 

8    G.  de  M.— lo 


CHAPTER     XIV. 


Christiane's    Via   Crucis 


"^HE    dawn    of   the    following   day 

brought  bad  news  to  Andermatt. 

He  learned  on    his  arrival   at  the 

bath-establishment  that  M.   Aubry- 

Pasteur  had  died  during  the    night 

from    an    attack   of  apoplexy  at  the 

Hotel  Splendid. 

in  addition  to  the  fact  that  the  de- 
ceased was  very  useful  to  him  on 
account  of  his  vast  scientific  attainments, 
isinterested  zeal,  and  attachment  to 
the  Mont  Oriol  station,  which,  in  some 
measure,  he  looked  upon  as  a  daughter, 
it  was  much  to  be  regretted  that  a  patient 
who  had  come  there  to  fight  against  a  tendency 
toward  congestion  should  have  died  exactly  in  this 
fashion,  in  the  midst  of  his  treatment,  in  the  very 
height  of  the  season,  at  the  very  moment  when  the 
rising  spa  was  beginning  to  prove  a  success. 

The  banker,  exceedingly  annoyed,  walked  up  and 
down   in    the  study  of  the  absent  inspector,  thinking 
of  some    device    whereby    this    misfortune    might    be 
(306) 


MONT    ORIOL 


307 


attributed  to  some  other  cause,  such  as  an  accident, 
a  fall,  a  want  of  prudence,  the  rupture  of  an  artery; 
and  he  impatiently  awaited  Doctor  Latonne's  arrival 
in  order  that  the  decease  might  be  ingeniously  certi- 
fied without  awakening  any  suspicion  as  to  the  initial 
cause  of  the  fatality. 

All  at  once,  the  medical  inspector  appeared  on  the 
scene,  his  face  pale  and  indicative  of  extreme  agita- 
tion; and,  as  soon  as  he  had  passed  through  the 
door,  he  asked:  "Have  you  heard  the  lamentable 
news  ?" 

"Yes,  the  death  of  M.  Aubry-Pasteur." 

"No,  no,  the  flight  of  Doctor  Mazelli  with  Pro- 
fessor Cloche's  daughter." 

Andermatt  felt  a  shiver  running  along  his  skin. 

"What?  you  tell  me  —  " 

"Oh!  my  dear  manager,  it  is  a  frightful  catas- 
trophe, a  crash! " 

He  sat  down  and  wiped  his  forehead;  then  he 
related  the  facts  as  he  got  them  from  Petrus  Martel, 
who  had  learned  them  directly  through  the  professor's 
valet. 

Mazelli  had  paid  very  marked  attentions  to  the 
pretty  red-haired  widow,  a  coarse  coquette,  a  wanton, 
whose  first  husband  had  succumbed  to  consumption, 
brought  on,  it  was  said,  by  excessive  devotion  to  his 
matrimonial  duties.  But  M.  Cloche,  having  discovered 
the  projects  of  the  Italian  physician,  and  not  desiring 
this  adventurer  as  a  second  son-in-law,  violently 
turned  him  out  of  doors  on  surprising  him  kneeling 
at  the  widow's  feet. 

Mazelli,  having  been  sent  out  by  the  door,  soon 
re-entered  through  the  window    by  the   silken   ladder 


308  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 

of  lovers.  Two  versions  of  the  affair  were  current. 
According  to  the  first,  he  had  rendered  the  professor's 
daughter  mad  with  love  and  jealousy;  according  to 
the  second,  he  had  continued  to  see  her  secretly, 
while  pretending  to  be  devoting  his  attention  to  an- 
other woman;  and  ascertaining  finally  through  his 
mistress  that  the  professor  remained  inflexible,  he  had 
carried  her  off,  the  same  night,  rendering  a  marriage 
inevitable,  in  consequence  of  this  scandal. 

Doctor  Latonne  rose  up  and,  leaning  his  back 
against  the  mantelpiece,  while  Andermatt,  astounded, 
continued  walking  up   and  down,  he  exclaimed: 

"A  physician,  Monsieur,  a  physician  to  do  such  a 
thing! — a  doctor  of  medicine! — what  an  absence  of 
character!" 

Andermatt,  completely  crushed,  appreciated  the 
consequences,  classified  them,  and  weighed  them,  as 
one  does  a  sum  in  addition.  They  were:  "First, 
the  disagreeable  report  spreading  over  the  neighbor- 
ing spas  and  all  the  way  to  Paris.  If,  however, 
they  went  the  right  way  about  it,  perhaps  they 
could  make  use  of  this  elopement  as  an  advertise- 
ment. A  fortnight's  echoes  well  written  and  promi- 
nently printed  in  the  newspapers  would  strongly 
attract  attention  to  Mont  Oriol.  Secondly:  Professor 
Cloche's  departure  an  irreparable  loss.  Thirdly:  The 
departure  of  the  Duchess  and  the  Duke  de  Ramas- 
Aldavarra,  a  second  inevitable  loss  without  possible 
compensation.  In  short.  Doctor  Latonne  was  right. 
It  was  a  frightful  catastrophe." 

Then,  the  banker,  turning  toward  the  physician: 
"You  ought  to  go  at  once  to  the  Hotel  Splendid, 
and   draw  up   the   certificate   of  the   death  of  Aubry- 


MONT    ORIOL 


509 


Pasteur  in  such  a  way  that  no  one  could  suspect  it 
to  be  a  case  of  congestion." 

Doctor  Latonne  put  on  his  hnt;  then  just  as  he 
was  leaving:  "Ha!  another  rumor  which  is  circuhi- 
ting!  Is  it  true  that  your  friend  Paul  Bretigny  is  go- 
ing to  marry  Charlotte  Oriol?" 

Andermatt  gave  a  start  of  astonishment. 

"Bretigny?     Come    now! — who   told   you  that.^" 

"Why,  as  in  the  other  case,  Petrus  Martel,  who 
had  it  from  Pere  Oriol    himself." 

"From  Pere  Oriol.?" 

"Yes,  from  Pere  Oriol,  who  declared  thai  his  future 
son-in-law  possessed  a  fortune  of  three  millions." 

William  did  not  know  what  to  think.  He  mut- 
tered: "In  point  of  fact,  it  is  possible.  He  has  been 
rather  hot  on  her  for  some  time  past!  But  in  that 
case  the  whole  knoll  is  ours  —  the  whole  knoll! 
Oh!  1  must  make  certain  of  this  immediately."  And 
he  went  ou.  after  the  doctor  in  order  to  meet  Paul 
before  breakfast. 

As  he  was  entering  the  hotel,  he  was  informed 
that  his  wife  had  several  times  asked  to  see  him. 
He  found  her  still  in  bed,  chatting  with  her  father 
and  with  her  brother,  who  was  looking  through  the 
newspapers  with  a  rapid  and  wandering  glance.  She 
felt  poorly,  very  poorly,  restless.  She  was  afraid, 
without  knowing  why.  And  then  an  idea  had  come  to 
her,  and  had  for  some  days  been  growing  stronger 
in  her  brain,  as  usually  happens  with  pregnant 
women.  She  wanted  to  consult  Doctor  Black.  From 
the  effect  of  hearing  around  her  some  jokes  at  Doc- 
tor Latonne's  expense,  she  had  lost  all  confidence  in 
him,  and  she  wanted  another  opinion,  that  of  Doctor 


3IO 


WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


Black,  whose  success  was  constantly  increasing. 
Fears,  all  the  fears,  all  the  hauntings,  by  which 
women  toward  the  close  of  pregnancy  are  besieged, 
now  tortured  her  from  morning  until  night.  Since 
the  night  before,  in  consequence  of  a  dream,  she 
imagined  that  the  Caesarian  operation  might  be  neces- 
sary. And  she  was  present  in  thought  at  this  opera- 
tion performed  on  herself.  She  saw  herself  lying  on 
her  back  in  a  bed  covered  with  blood,  while  some- 
thing red  was  being  taken  away,  which  did  not 
move,  which  did  not  cry,  and  which  was  dead!  And 
for  ten  minutes  she  shut  her  eyes,  in  order  to  wit- 
ness this  over  again,  to  be  present  once  more  at  hef 
horrible  and  painful  punishment.  She  had,  thereforej 
become  impressed  with  the  notion  that  Doctor  Black 
alone  could  tell  her  the  truth,  and  she  wanted  him  at 
once;  she  required  him  to  examine  her  immediately, 
immediately,  immediately!  Andermatt,  greatly  agi- 
tated, did  not  knovv'  what  answer  to  give  her. 

"But  my  dear  child,  it  is  difficult,  having  regard 
to  my  relations  with  Latonne  it  is  even  impossible. 
Listen!  an  idea  occurs  to  me:  1  will  look  up  Professor 
Mas-Roussel,  who  is  a  hundred  times  better  than 
Black.     He  will  not  refuse  to  come  when  1  ask  him." 

But  she  persisted.  She  wanted  Black,  and  no  one 
else.  She  required  to  see  him  with  his  big  bull- 
dog's head  beside  her.  it  was  a  longing,  a  wild, 
superstitious  desire.  She  considered  it  necessary  for 
him  to  see  her. 

Then  William  attempted  to  change  the  current  of 
her  thoughts: 

"You  haven't  heard  how  that  intriguer  Mazelli 
carried  off  Professor  Cloche's  daughter  the  other  night. 


MONT    ORIOL 


3n 


They  are  gone  away;  nobody  can  tell  where  they 
levanted  to.     There's  a  nice  story  for  you!" 

She  was  propped  up  on  her  pillow,  her  eyes 
strained  with  grief,  and  she  faltered:  "Oh!  the  poor 
Duchess  —  the  poor  woman  —  how  I  pity  her!"  Her 
heart  had  long  since  learned  to  understand  that  other 
woman's  heart,  bruised  and  impassioned!  She  suf- 
fered from  the  same  malady  and  wept  the  same 
tears.  But  she  resumed:  "Listen,  Will!  Go  and 
find  M.  Black  for  me.  I  know  I  shall  die  unless  he 
comes!" 

Andermatt  caught  her  hand,  and  tenderly  kissed  it: 

"Come,  my  little  Christiane,  be  reasonable  —  un- 
derstand." 

He  saw  her  eyes  filled  with  tears,  and,  turning 
toward  the  Marquis: 

"It  is  you  that  ought  to  do  this,  my  dear  father- 
in-law.  As  for  me,  I  can't  do  it.  Black  comes  here 
every  day  about  one  o'clock  to  see  the  Princess  de 
Maldebourg.  Stop  him  in  the  passage,  and  send  him 
in  to  your  daughter.  You  can  easily  wait  an  hour, 
can  you  not,  Christiane?" 

She  consented  to  wait  an  hour,  but  refused  to  get 
up  to  breakfast  with  the  men,  who  passed  alone  into 
the  dining-room. 

Paul  was  there  already.  Andermatt,  when  he  saw 
him,  exclaimed:  "Ah!  tell  me  now,  what  is  it  I 
have  been  told  a  little  while  ago  ?  You  are  going  to 
marry  Charlotte  Oriol  ?     It  is  not  true,  is  it?" 

The  young  man  replied  in  a  low  tone,  casting  a 
restless  look  toward  the  closed  door:  "Good  God! 
it  is  true!"  Nobody  having  been  sure  of  it  till  now, 
the  three  stared  at  him  in   amazement. 


512  WORKS  OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

William  asked:  "  Wiiat  came  over  you?  With 
your  fortune,  to  marry  —  to  embarrass  yourself  with 
one  woman,  when  you  have  the  whole  of  them  ? 
And  then,  after  all,  the  family  leaves  something  to  be 
desired  in  the  matter  of  refinement.  It  is  all  very 
well  for  Gontran,  who  hasn't  a  sou!" 

Bretigny  began  to  laugh:  "My  father  made  a 
fortune  out  of  flour;  he  was  then  a  miller  on  a  large 
scale.  If  you  had  known  him,  you  might  have  said 
he  lacked  refinement.     As  for  the  young  girl — " 

Andermatt  interrupted  him:  "Oh!  perfect  —  charm- 
ing—  perfect  —  and  you  know  —  she  will  be  as  rich 
as  yourself — if  not  more  so.  I  answer  for  it  —  I  —  I 
answer  for  it!  " 

Gontran  murmured:  "Yes,  this  marriage  inter- 
feres with  nothing,  and  covers  retreats.  Only  he  was 
wrong  in  not  giving  us  notice  beforehand.  How  the 
devil  was  this  business  managed,  my  friend?" 

Thereupon,  Paul  related  all  that  had  occurred  with 
some  slight  modifications.  He  told  about  his  hesita- 
tion, which  he  exaggerated,  and  his  sudden  determi- 
nation on  discovering  from  the  young  girl's  own  lips 
that  she.  loved  him.  He  described  the  unexpected 
entrance  of  Pere  Oriol,  their  quarrel,  which  he  en- 
larged upon,  the  countryman's  doubts  concerning  his 
fortune,  and  the  incident  of  the  stamped  paper  drawn 
by  the  old  man  out  of  the  press. 

Andermatt,  laughing  till  the  tears  ran  down  his 
face,  hit  the  table  with  his  fist:  "Ha!  he  did  that  over 
again,  the  stamped  paper  touch!  It's  my  invention, 
that  is!" 

But  Paul  stammered,  reddening  a  little:  "Pray 
don't   let   your   wife   know   about   it  yet.     Owing   to 


MONT    ORIOL 


313 


the    terms    which    we    are    on    at    present,  it   is    more 
suitable  that  I  should  announce  it  to  her  myself." 

Gontran  eyed  his  friend  with  an  odd,  good- 
humored  smile,  which  seemed  to  say:  "This  is 
quite  right,  all  this,  quite  right!  That's  the  way 
things  ought  to  end,  without  noise,  without  scandals, 
without  any  dramatic  situations." 

He  suggested:  "If  you  like,  my  dear  Paul,  we'll 
go  together,  after  dinner,  when  she's  up,  and  you 
will  inform  her  of  your  decision." 

Their  eyes  met,  fixed,  full  of  unfathomable 
thoughts,  then  looked  in  another  direction.  And 
Paul  replied  with  an  air  of  indifference: 

"Yes,  willingly.     We'll  talk  about  this  presently." 

A  waiter  from  the  hotel  came  to  inform  them 
that  Doctor  Black  had  just  arrived  for  his  visit  to  the 
Princess;  and  the  Marquis  forthwith  v/ent  out  to 
catch  him  in  the  passage.  He  explained  the  situa- 
tion to  the  doctor,  his  son-in-law's  embarrassment 
and  his  daughter's  earnest  wish,  and  he  brought  him 
in  without  resistance. 

As  soon  as  the  little  man  with  the  big  head  had 
entered  Christiane's  apartment,  she  said:  "Papa, 
leave  us  alone!"     And  the  Marquis  withdrew. 

Thereupon,  she  enumerated  her  disquietudes,  her 
terrors,  her  nightmares,  in  a  low,  sweet  voice,  as 
though  she  were  at  confession.  And  the  physician 
listened  to  her  like  a  priest,  covering  her  sometimes 
with  his  big  round  eyes,  showed  his  attention  by  a 
little  nod  of  the  head,  murmured  a  "That's  it," 
which  seemed  to  mean,  "I  know  your  case  at  the 
end  ot  my  fingers,  and  I  will  cure  you  whenever  I 
like." 


314 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


When  she  had  finished  speaking,  he  began  in  his 
turn  to  question  her  with  extreme  minuteness  of  de- 
tail about  her  life,  her  habits,  her  course  of  diet,  her 
treatment.  At  one  moment  he  appeared  to  express 
approval  with  a  gesture,  at  another  to  convey  blame 
with  an  "Oh!"  full  of  reservations.  When  she  came 
to  her  great  fear  that  the  child  was  misplaced,  he 
rose  up,  and  with  an  ecclesiastical  modesty,  lightly 
passed  his  hand  over  the  counterpane,  and  then  re- 
marked,  "No,  it's  all  right." 

And  she  felt  a  longing  to  embrace  him.  What  a 
good  man  this  physician  was! 

He  sat  down  at  the  table,  took  a  sheet  of  paper, 
and  wrote  out  the  prescription.  It  was  long,  very 
long.  Then  he  came  back  close  to  the  bed,  and,  in 
an  altered  tone,  clearly  indicating  that  he  had  finished 
his  professional  and  sacred  duty,  he  began  to  chat. 
He  had  a  deep,  unctuous  voice,  the  powerful  voice  of 
a  thickset  dwarf,  and  there  were  hidden  questions  in 
his  most  ordinary  phrases.  He  talked  about  every- 
thing. Gontran's  marriage  seemed  to  interest  him 
considerably.  Then,  with  his  ugly  smile  like  that  of 
an  ill-shaped  being: 

"I  have  said  nothing  yet  to  you  about  M.  Bre- 
tigny's  marriage,  although  it  cannot  be  a  secret,  for 
Pere  Oriol  has  told  it  to  everybody." 

A  kind  of  fainting  fit  took  possession  of  her,  com- 
mencing at  the  end  of  her  fingers,  then  invading  her 
entire  body  —  her  arms,  her  breast,  her  stomach,  her 
legs.  She  did  not,  however,  quite  understand;  but  a 
horrible  fear  of  not  learning  the  truth  suddenly  re- 
stored her  powers  of  observation,  and  she  faltered: 
"Ha!  Pere  Oriol  has  told  it  to  everybody?" 


MONT    ORIOL 


3>5 


"Yes,  yes.  He  was  speaking  to  myself  about  it 
less  than  ten  minutes  ago.  It  appears  that  M.  Bre- 
tigny  is  very  rich,  and  that  he  has  been  in  love  with 
little  Charlotte  for  some  time  past.  Moreover,  it  is 
Madame  Honorat  who  made  these  two  matches.  She 
lent  her  hands  and  her  house  for  the  meetings  of  the 
young  people." 

Christiane  had  closed  her  eyes.  She  had  lost  con- 
sciousness. In  answer  to  the  doctor's  call,  a  cham- 
bermaid rushed  in;  then  appeared  the  Marquis, 
Andermatt,  and  Gontran,  who  went  to  search  for 
vinegar,  ether,  ice,  twenty  different  things  all  equally 
useless.  Suddenly,  the  young  woman  moved,  opened 
her  eyes,  lifted  up  her  arms,  and  uttered  a  heart- 
rending cry,  writhing  in  the  bed.  She  tried  to  speak, 
and  in  a  broken  voice  said: 

"Oh!  what  pain  1  feel  —  my  God!  —  what  pain  1 
feel  —  in  my  back  —  something  is  tearing  me —  Oh! 
my  God!"     And  she  broke  out  into  fresh  shrieks. 

The  symptoms  of  confinement  were  speedily  rec- 
ognized. Then  Andermatt  rushed  off  to  find  Doctor 
Latonne,  and  came  upon  him  finishing  his  meal. 

"Come  on  quickly  —  my  wife  has  met  with  a 
mishap  —  hurry  on!"  Then  he  made  use  of  a  little 
deception,  telling  how  Doctor  Black  had  been  found 
in  the  hotel  at  the  moment  of  the  first  pains.  Doctor 
Black  himself  confirmed  this  falsehood  by  saying  to 
his  brother-physician: 

"I  had  just  come  to  visit  the  Princess  when  I 
was  informed  that  Madame  Andermatt  was  taken  ill. 
I  hurried  to  her.     It  was  time!" 

But  William,  in  a  state  of  great  excitement,  his 
heart   beating,  his   soul   filled    with    alarm    was   all  at 


^l6  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

once  seized  with  doubts  as  to  the  competency  of  the 
two  professional  men,  and  he  started  off  afresh,  bare- 
headed, in  order  to  run  in  the  direction  of  Professor 
Mas-Roussel's  house,  and  to  entreat  him  to  come. 
The  professor  consented  to  do  so  at  once,  buttoned 
on  his  frock-coat  with  the  mechanical  movement  of  a 
physician  going  out  to  pay  a  visit,  and  set  forth  with 
great,  rapid  strides,  the  eager  strides  of  an  eminent 
man  whose  presence  may  save  a  life. 

When  he  arrived  on  the  scene,  the  two  other 
doctors,  full  of  deference,  consulted  him  with  an  air 
of  humility,  repeating  together  or  nearly  at  the  same 
time: 

"  Here  is  what  has  occurred,  dear  master.  Don't 
you  think,  dear  master.?  Isn't  there  reason  to  believe, 
dear  master?" 

Andermatt,  in  his  turn,  driven  crazy  with  anguish 
at  the  moanings  of  his  wife,  harassed  M.  Mas-Roussel 
with  questions,  and  also  addressed  him  as  "dear 
master"  with  wide-open  mouth. 

Christiane,  almost  naked  in  the  presence  of  these 
men,  no  longer  saw,  noticed,  or  understood  anything. 
She  was  suffering  so  dreadfully  that  everything  else 
had  vanished  from  her  consciousness.  It  seemed  to 
her  that  they  were  drawing  from  the  tops  of  her 
hips  along  her  side  and  her  back  a  long  saw,  with 
blunt  teeth,  which  was  mangling  her  bones  and  mus- 
cles slowly  and  in  an  irregular  fashion,  with  shakings, 
stoppages,  and  renewals  of  the  operation,  which  be- 
came every  moment  more  and  more  frightful. 

When  this  torture  abated  for  a  few  seconds,  when 
the  rendings  of  her  body  allowed  her  reason  to  come 
back,  one    thought  then  fixed  itself  in  her  soul,  more 


MONT    ORIOL 


517 


cruel,  more  keen,  more  terrible,  than  her  physical 
pain:  "He  was  in  love  with  another  woman,  and 
was  going  to  marry  her!" 

And,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  this  pang,  which  was 
eating  into  her  brain,  she  struggled  to  bring  on  once 
more  the  atrocious  torment  of  her  flesh;  she  shook 
her  sides;  she  strained  her  back;  and  when  the  crisis 
returned  again,  she  had,  at  least,  lost  all  capacity  for 
thought. 

For  fifteen  hours  she  endured  this  martyrdom,  so 
much  bruised  by  suffering  and  despair  that  she 
longed  to  die,  and  strove  to  die  in  those  spasms  in 
which  she  writhed. 

But,  after  a  convulsion  longer  and  more  violent 
than  the  rest,  it  seemed  to  her  that  everything  inside 
her  body  suddenly  escaped  from  her.  It  was  over; 
her  pangs  were  assuaged,  like  the  waves  of  the  sea, 
when  they  are  calmed;  and  the  relief  which  she  ex- 
perienced was  so  intense  that,  for  a  time,  even  her 
grief  became  numbed.  They  spoke  to  her.  She  an- 
swered in  a  voice  very  weak,  very  low. 

Suddenly,  Andermatt  stooped  down,  his  face  to- 
ward hers,  and  he  said:  "She  will  live  —  she  is 
almost  at  the  end  of  it.     It  is  a  girl!" 

Christiane  was  only  able  to  articulate:  "Ah!  my 
God!" 

So  then  she  had  a  child,  a  living  child,  who 
would  grow  big  —  a  child  of  Paul!  She  felt  a  desire 
to  cry  out,  all  this  fresh  misfortune  crushed  her  heart. 
She  had  a  daughter.  She  did  not  want  it!  She 
would  not  look  at  it!     She  would  never  touch  it! 

They  had  laid  her  down  again  on  the  bed,  taken 
care  of  her,  tenderly  embraced   her.    Who  had   done 


:;i8  WORKS  OF  GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 

this?  No  doubt,  her  father  and  her  husband.  She 
could  not  tell.  But  he  —  where  was  he?  What  was 
he  doing?  How  happy  she  would  have  felt  at  that 
moment,  if  only  he  still  loved  her! 

The  hours  dragged  along,  following  each  other 
without  any  distinction  between  day  and  night  so  far 
as  she  was  concerned,  for  she  felt  only  this  one 
thought  burning  into  her  soul:  he  loved  another 
woman. 

Then  she  said  to  herself  all  of  a  sudden:  "What 
if  it  were  false?  Why  should  I  not  have  known 
about  his  marriage  sooner  than  this  doctor?"  After 
that,  came  the  reflection  that  it  had  been  kept  hidden 
from  her.  Paul  had  taken  care  that  she  should  not 
hear  about  it. 

She  glanced  around  her  room  to  see  who  was 
there.  A  woman  whom  she  did  not  know  was 
keeping  watch  by  her  side,  a  woman  of  the  people. 
She  did  not  venture  to  question  her.  From  whom, 
then,  could  she  make  inquiries  about  this  matter? 

The  door  was  suddenly  pushed  open.  Her  hus- 
band entered  on  the  tips  of  his  toes.  Seeing  that  her 
eyes  were  open,  he  came  over  to  her. 

"Are  you  better?" 

"Yes,  thanks." 

"You  frightened  us  very  much  since  yesterday. 
But  there  is  an  end  of  the  danger!  By  the  bye,  I  am 
quite  embarrassed  about  your  case.  1  telegraphed  to 
our  friend,  Madame  Icardon,  who  was  to  have  come 
to  stay  with  you  during  your  confinement,  informing 
her  about  your  premature  illness,  and  imploring  her 
to  hasten  down  here.  She  is  with  her  nephew,  who 
has  an  attack  of  scarlet  fever.     You  cannot,  however. 


MONT    O  RIOL 


319 


remain  without  anyone  near  you,  without  some 
woman  who  is  a  little  —  a  little  suitable  for  the  pur- 
pose. Accordingly,  a  lady  from  the  neighborhood 
has  offered  to  nurse  you,  and  to  keep  you  company 
every  day,  and,  faith,  I  have  accepted  the  offer.  It 
is  Madame  Honorat. " 

Christiane  suddenly  remembered  Doctor  Black's 
words.  A  start  of  fear  shook  her;  and  she  groaned: 
"Oh!  no  — no  — not  she!" 

William  did  not  understand,  and  went  on:  "  Listen, 
1  know  well  that  she  is  very  common;  but  your 
brother  has  a  great  esteem  for  her;  she  has  been  of 
great  service  to  him;  and  then  it  has  been  thrown 
out  that  she  was  originally  a  midwife,  whom  Hono- 
rat made  the  acquaintance  of  while  attending  a  pa- 
tient. If  you  take  a  strong  dislike  to  her,  I  will  send 
her  away  the  next  day.  Let  us  try  her  at  any  rate. 
Let  her  come  once  or  twice." 

She  remained  silent,  thinking.  A  craving  to  know, 
to  know  everything,  entered  into  her,  so  violent  that 
the  hope  of  making  this  woman  chatter  freely,  of 
tearing  from  her  one  by  one  the  words  that  would 
rend  her  ov/n  heart,  now  filled  her  with  a  yearning 
to  reply:  "Go,  go,  and  look  for  her  immediately  — 
immediately.     Go,  pray!" 

And  to  this  irresistible  desire  to  know  was  also 
superadded  a  strange  longing  to  suffer  more  intensely, 
to  roll  herself  about  in  her  misery,  as  she  might  have 
rolled  herself  on  thorns,  the  mysterious  longing,  mor- 
bid and  feverish,  of  a  martyr  calling  for  fresh  pain. 

So  she  faltered:  "Yes,  1  have  no  objection.  Bring 
me  Madame  Honorat." 

Then,  suddenly,  she   felt   that   she   could  not  wait 


320 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


any  longer  without  making  sure,  quite  sure,  of  this 
treason;  and  she  asked  William  in  a  voice  weak  as  a 
breath : 

"Is  it  true  that  M.  Bretigny  is  getting   married?" 
He  replied   calmly:    "Yes,  it  is  true.     We  would 
have  told   you  before   this   if  we    could    have   talked 
with  you." 

She  continued:  "With  Charlotte?" 
"With  Charlotte." 

Now  William  had  also  a  fixed  idea  himself  which 
from  this  time  forth  never  left  him  — his  daughter,  as 
yet  barely  alive,  whom  every  moment  he  was  going 
to  look  at.  He  felt  indignant  because  Christiane's 
first  words  were  not  to  ask  for  the  baby;  and  in  a 
tone  of  gentle  reproach:  "Well,  look  here!  you  have 
not  yet  inquired  about  the  little  one.  You  are  aware 
that  she  is  going  on  very  well?" 

She  trembled  as  if  he  had  touched  a  living  wound; 
but  it  was  necessary  for  her  to  pass  through  all  the 
stations  of  this  Calvary. 

"Bring  her  here,"  she  said. 

He  vanished  to  the  foot  of  the  bed  behind  the 
curtain,  then  he  came  back,  his  face  lighted  up  with 
pride  and  happiness,  and  holding  in  his  hands,  in  an 
awkward  fashion,  a  bundle  of  white  linen. 

He  laid  it  down  on  the  embroidered  pillow  close 
to  the  head  of  Christiane,  who  was  choking  with 
emotion,  and  he  said:  "Look  here,  see  how  lovely 
she  is!" 

She  looked.  He  opened  with  two  of  his  fingers 
the  fine  lace  with  which  was  hidden  from  view  a  little 
red  face,  so  small,  so  red,  with  closed  eyes,  and  mouth 
constantly  moving. 


MONT    ORIOL 


321 


And  she  thought,  as  she  leaned  over  this  begin- 
ning of  being:  "This  is  my  daughter — Paul's  daugh- 
ter. Here  then  is  what  made  me  suffer  so  much. 
This  —  this  —  this  is  my  daughter!" 

Her  repugnance  toward  the  child,  whose  birth 
had  so  fiercely  torn  her  poor  heart  and  her  tender 
woman's  body  had,  all  at  once,  disappeared;  she 
now  contemplated  it  with  ardent  and  sorrowing  curi- 
osity, with  profound  astonishment,  the  astonishment 
of  a  being  who  sees  her  firstborn  come  forth  from 
her. 

Andermatt  was  waiting  for  her  to  caress  it  pas- 
sionately. He  was  surprised  and  shocked,  and  asked: 
"Are  you  not  going  to  kiss  it.^" 

She  stooped  quite  gently  toward  this  little  red 
forehead;  and  in  proportion  as  she  drew  her  lips 
closer  to  it,  she  felt  them  drawn,  called  by  it.  And 
when  she  had  placed  them  upon  it,  when  she  touched 
it,  a  little  moist,  a  little  warm,  warm  with  her  own 
life,  it  seemed  to  her  that  she  could  not  withdraw  her 
lips  from  that  infantile  flesh,  that  she  would  leave 
them  there  forever. 

Something  grazed  her  cheek;  it  was  her  husband's 
beard  as  he  bent  forward  to  kiss  her.  And  when  he 
had  pressed  her  a  long  time  against  himself  with  a 
grateful  tenderness,  he  wanted,  in  his  turn,  to  kiss 
his  daughter,  and  with  his  outstretched  mouth  he  gave 
it  very  soft  little  strokes  on  the  nose. 

Christiane,  her  heart  shriveled  up  by  this  caress, 
gazed  at  both  of  them  there  by  her  side,  at  her 
daughter  and  at  him  —  him! 

He  soon  wanted  to  carry  the  infant  back  to  its 
cradle. 

8    G.  de  M.— 21 


^22  WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

"No,"  said  she,  "let  me  have  it  a  few  minutes 
longer,  that  I  may  feel  it  close  to  my  face.  Don't 
speak  to  me  any  more  —  don't  move  —  leave  us  alone, 
and  wait." 

She  passed  one  of  her  arms  over  the  body  hidden 
under  the  swaddling-clothes,  put  her  forehead  close 
to  the  little  grinning  face,  shut  her  eyes,  and  no 
longer  stirred,  or  thought  about  anything. 

But,  at  the  end  of  a   few  minutes,  William    softly 
touched    her    on   the    shoulder:     "Come,  mv  darlincr 
you    must    be   reasonable!     No   emotions,  you  know, 
no  emotions!  " 

Thereupon,  he  bore  away  their  little  daughter, 
while  the  mother's  eyes  followed  the  child  till  it  had 
disappeared  behind  the  curtain  of  the  bed. 

After  that,  he  came  back  to  her:  "Then  it  is 
understood  that  I  am  to  bring  Madame  Honorat  to 
you  to-morrow  morning,  to  keep  you   company.?" 

She  replied  in  a  firm  tone:  "Yes,  my  dear,  you 
may  send  her  to  me  —  to-morrow  morning." 

And  she  stretched  herself  out  in  the  bed,  fatigued, 
worn  out,  perhaps  a  little  less  unhappy. 

Her  father  and  her  brother  came  to  see  her  in  the 
evening,  and  told  her  news  about  the  locality  — the 
precipitate  departure  of  Professor  Cloche  in  search  of 
his  daughter,  and  the  conjectures  with  reference  to 
the  Duchess  de  Ramas,  who  was  no  longer  to  be 
seen,  and  who  was  also  supposed  to  have  started  on 
Mazelli's  track.  Gontran  laughed  at  these  adventures, 
and  drew  a  comic  moral  from  the  occurrences: 

"The  history  of  those  spas  is  incredible.  They 
are  the  only  fairylands  left  upon  the  earth!  In  two 
months    more    thin^js    happen    in    them    than    in    th<? 


MONT    ORIOL 


3^3 


rest  of  the  universe  during  the  remainder  of  the  year. 
One  might  say  with  truth  that  the  springs  are  not 
mineralized  but  bewitched.  And  it  is  everywhere  the 
same,  at  Aix,  Royat,  Vichy,  Luchon,  and  also  at 
the  sea-baths,  at  Dieppe,  Htretat,  Trouville,  Biarritz, 
Cannes,  and  Nice.  You  meet  there  specimens  of  all 
kinds  of  people,  of  every  social  grade  —  admirable 
adventures,  a  mixture  of  races  and  people  not  to  be 
found  elsewhere,  and  marvelous  incidents.  Women 
play  pranks  there  with  facility  and  charming  prompt- 
itude. At  Paris  one  resists  temptation  —  at  the 
waters  one  falls;  there  you  are!  Some  men  find  for- 
tune at  them,  like  Andermatt;  others  find  death,  like 
Aubry-Pasteur;  others  find  worse  even  than  that  — 
and  get  married  there  —  like  myself  and  Paul.  Isn't 
it  queer  and  funny,  this  sort  of  thing.?  You  have 
heard  about  Paul's  intended  marriage  —  have  you 
not  ?  " 

She  murmured:  "Yes;  William  told  me  about  it 
a  little  while  ago." 

Gontran  went  on:  "He  is  right,  quite  right. 
She  is  a  peasant's  daughter.  Well,  what  of  that  ? 
She  is  better  than  an  adventurer's  daughter  or  a 
daughter  who's  too  short.  I  knew  Paul.  He  would 
have  ended  by  marrying  a  street-walker,  provided 
she  resisted  him  for  six  months.  And  to  resist  him 
it  needed  a  jade  or  an  innocent.  He  has  lighted  on 
the  innocent.     So  much  the  better  for  him!" 

Christiane  listened,  and  every  word,  entering 
through  her  ears,  went  straight  to  her  heart,  and  in- 
flicted on  her  pain,  horrible  pain. 

Closing  her  eyes,  she  said:  "1  am  very  tired.  I 
would  like  to  have  a  little  rest." 


324  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

They  embraced  her  and  went  out. 

She  could  not  sleep,  so  wakeful  was  her  mind, 
active  and  racked  with  harrowing  thoughts.  That 
idea  that  he  no  longer  loved  her  at  all  became  so  in- 
tolerable that,  were  it  not  for  the  presence  of  this 
woman,  this  nurse  nodding  asleep  in  the  armchair, 
she  would  have  got  up,  opened  the  window,  and 
flung  herself  out  on  the  steps  of  the  hotel,  A  very 
thin  ray  of  moonlight  penetrated  through  an  opening 
in  the  curtains,  and  formed  a  round  bright  spot  on 
the  floor.  She  observed  it;  and  in  a  moment  a 
crowd  of  memories  rushed  together  into  her  brain: 
the  lake,  the  wood,  that  first  "I  love  you,"  scarcely 
heard,  so  agitating,  at  Tournoel,  and  all  their  ca- 
resses, in  the  evening,  beside  the  shadowy  paths,  and 
the  road  from  La  Roche  Pradiere. 

Suddenly,  she  saw  this  white  road,  on  a  night 
when  the  heavens  were  filled  with  stars,  and  he, 
Paul,  with  his  arm  round  a  woman's  waist,  kissing 
her  at  every  step  they  walked.  It  was  Charlotte! 
He  pressed  her  against  him,  smiled  as  he  knew  how 
to  smile,  murmured  in  her  ear  sweet  words,  such  as 
he  knew  how  to  utter,  then  flung  himself  on  his 
knees  and  kissed  the  ground  in  front  of  her,  just  as 
he  had  kissed  it  in  front  of  herself!  It  was  so  hard, 
so  hard  for  her  to  bear,  that  turning  round  and  hid- 
ing her  face  in  the  pillow,  she  burst  out  sobbing. 
She  almost  shrieked,  so  much  did  despair  rend  her 
soul.  Every  beat  of  her  heart,  which  jumped  into 
her  throat,  which  throbbed  in  her  temples,  sent  forth 
from  her  one  word — "Paul  —  Paul  —  Paul"  —  end- 
lessly re-echoed.  She  stopped  up  her  ears  with  her 
hands    in    order    to    hear   nothing    more,  plunged    her 


MONT    ORIOL 


325 


head  under  the  sheets;  but  then  his  name  sounded 
in  the  depths  of  her  bosom  with  every  pant  of  her 
tormented  heart. 

The  nurse,  waking  up,  asked  of  her:  "Are  you 
worse,   Madame?" 

Christiane  turned  round,  her  face  covered  with 
tears,  and  murmured:  "No,  I  was  asleep — I  was 
dreaming  —  I  was   frightened." 

Then,  she  begged  of  her  to  Hght  two  wax-candles, 
so  that  the  ray  of  moonlight  might  be  no  longer  vis- 
ible.    Toward  morning,  however,  she  slumbered. 

She  had  been  asleep  for  a  few  hours  when  Ander- 
matt  came  in,  bringing  with  him  Madame  Honorat. 
The  fat  lady,  immediately  adopting  a  familiar  tone, 
questioned  her  like  a  doctor;  then,  satisfied  with  her 
answers,  said:  "Come,  come!  you're  going  on  very 
nicely!"  Then  she  took  off  her  hat,  her  gloves,  and 
her  shawl,  and,  addressing  the  nurse:  "You  may  go, 
my  girl.     You  will  come  when  we  ring  for  you." 

Christiane,  already  inflamed  with  dislike  to  the 
woman,  said  to  her  husband:  "Give  me  my  daughter 
for  a  little  while." 

As  on  the  previous  day,  William  carried  the  child 
to  her,  tenderly  embracing  it  as  he  did  so,  and  placed 
it  upon  the  pillow.  And,  as  on  the  previous  day, 
too,  when  she  felt  close  to  her  cheek,  through  the 
wrappings,  the  heat  of  this  little  stranger's  body,  im- 
prisoned in  linen,  she  was  suddenly  penetrated  with 
a  grateful  sense  of  peace. 

Then,  all  at  once,  the  baby  began  to  cry,  scream- 
ing out  in  a  shrill  and  piercing  voice.  "She  wants 
nursing,"  said  Andermatt. 

He  rang,  and   the   wet-nurse    appeared,  a   big  red 


326  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

woman,  with  a  mouth  hke  an  ogress,  full  of  large, 
shining  teeth,  which  almost  terrified  Christiane.  And 
from  the  open  body  of  her  dress  she  drew  forth  a 
breast,  soft  and  heavy  with  milk.  And  when  Chris- 
tiane beheld  her  daughter  drinking,  she  felt  a  longing 
to  snatch  away  and  take  back  the  baby,  moved  by  a 
certain  sense  of  jealousy.  Madame  Honorat  now  gave 
directions  to  the  wet-nurse,  who  went  off,  carrying 
the  baby  in  her  arms.  Andermatt,  in  his  turn,  went 
out,  and  the  two  women  were  left  alone  together. 

Christiane  did  not  know  how  to  speak  of  what 
tortured  her  soul,  trembling  lest  she  might  give  way 
to  too  much  emotion,  lose  her  head,  burst  into  tears, 
and  betray  herself.  But  Madame  Honorat  began  to 
babble  of  her  own  accord,  without  having  been  asked 
a  single  question.  When  she  had  related  all  the 
scandalous  stories  that  were  circulating  through  the 
neighborhood,  she  came  to  the  Oriol  family:  "They 
are  good  people,"  said  she,  "very  good  people.  If 
you  had  known  the  mother,  what  a  worthy,  brave 
woman  she  was!  She  was  worth  ten  women, 
Madame.     The  girls  take    after   her,  for  that  matter." 

Then,  as  she  was  passing  on  to  another  topic, 
Christiane  asked:  "Which  of  the  two  do  you  prefer, 
Louise  or  Charlotte  ?  " 

"Oh!  for  my  own  part,  Madame,  1  prefer  Louise, 
your  brother's  intended  wife;  she  is  more  sensible, 
more  steady.  She  is  a  woman  of  order.  But  my 
husband  likes  the  other  better.  Men  you  know,  have 
tastes  different  from  ours." 

She  ceased  speaking.  Christiane,  whose  strength 
was  giving  way,  faltered:  "My  brother  has  often  met 
his  betrothed  at  your  house." 


MONT    ORIOL 


327 


"Oh!  yes,  Madame  —  I  believe  really  every  day. 
Everything  was  brought  about  at  my  house,  every- 
thing! As  for  me,  I  let  them  talk,  these  young  peo- 
ple, I  understood  the  thing  thoroughly.  But  what 
truly  gave  me  pleasure  was  when  1  saw  that  M. 
Paul  was  getting  smitten  by  the  younger  one." 

Then,  Christiane,  in  an  almost  inaudible  voice:  "Is 
he  deeply  in  love  with  her?" 

"Ah!  Madame,  is  he  in  love  with  her?  He  had 
lost  his  head  about  her  some  time  since.  And  then, 
when  the  Italian  —  he  who  ran  off"  with  Doctor 
Cloche's  daughter — kept  hanging  about  the  girl  a 
little,  it  was  something  worth  seeing  and  watching  — 
I  thought  they  were  going  to  fight!  Ah!  if  you  had 
seen  M.  Paul's  eyes.  And  he  looked  upon  her  as  if 
she  were  a  holy  Virgin,  nothing  less  —  it's  a  pleasant 
thing  to  see  people  so  much  in  love  as  that!" 

Thereupon,  Christiane  asked  her  about  all  that  had 
taken  place  in  her  presence,  about  all  they  had  said, 
about  all  they  had  done,  about  their  promenades  in 
the  glen  of  Sans-Souci,  where  he  had  so  often  told 
her  of  his  love  for  her.  She  put  unexpected  ques- 
tions, which  astonished  the  fat  lady,  about  matters 
that  nobody  would  have  dreamed  of,  for  she  was 
constantly  making  comparisons;  she  recalled  a  thou- 
sand details  of  what  had  occurred  the  year  before,  all 
Paul's  delicate  gallantries,  his  thoughtfulness  about 
her,  his  ingenious  devices  to  please  her,  all  that  dis-' 
play  of  charming  attentions  and  tender  anxieties 
which  on  the  part  of  a  man  show  an  imperious 
desire  to  win  a  woman's  affections;  and  she  wanted 
to  find  out  whether  he  had  manifested  the  same 
affectionate  interest  toward  the  other,  whether  he  had 


328  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

commenced  afresh  this  siege  of  a  soul  with  the  same 
ardor,  with  the  same  enthusiasm,  with  the  same  ir- 
resistible passion. 

And  every  time  she  recognized  a  little  circum- 
stance, a  little  trait,  one  of  those  nothings  which 
cause  such  exquisite  bliss,  one  of  those  disquieting 
surprises  which  cause  the  heart  to  beat  fast,  and  of 
which  Paul  was  so  prodigal  when  he  loved,  Chris- 
tiane,  as  she  lay  prostrate  in  the  bed,  gave  utterance 
to  a  little  "Ah!"  expressive  of  keen  suffering. 

Amazed  at  this  strange  exclamation,  Madame 
Honorat  declared  more  emphatically:  "Why,  yes. 
'Tis  as  I  tell  you,  exactly  as  I  tell  you.  1  never  saw 
a  man  so  much  in  love!" 

"Has  he  recited  verses  to  her?" 

"1  believe  so  indeed,  Madame,  and  very  pretty 
ones,  too!" 

And,  when  they  had  relapsed  into  silence,  nothing 
more  could  be  heard  save  the  monotonous  and 
soothing  song  of  the  nurse  as  she  rocked  the  baby 
to  sleep  in  the  adjoining  room. 

Steps  were  drawing  near  in  the  corridor  outside. 
Doctors  Mas-Roussel  and  Latonne  had  come  to  visit 
their  patient.  They  found  her  agitated,  not  quite  so 
well  as  she  had  been  on  the  previous  day. 

When  they  had  left,  Andermatt  opened  the  door 
again,  and  without  coming  in:  "Doctor  Black  would 
like  to  see  you.     Will  you  see  him?" 

She  exclaimed,  as  she  raised  herself  up  in  the 
bed:     "No  —  no  —  I  will  not  —  no!" 

William  came  over  to  her,  looking  quite  astounded: 
"But  listen  to  me  now  —  it  would  only  be  right  —  it  is 
his  due  —  you  ought  to!" 


MONT    ORIOL 


329 


She  looked,  with  her  wide-open  eyes  and  quiver- 
ing lips,  as  if  she  had  lost  her  reason.  She  kept 
repeating  in  a  piercing  voice,  so  loud  that  it  must 
have  penetrated  through  the  walls:  "No!  —  no!  — 
never!"  And  then,  no  longer  knowing  what  she 
said,  and  pointing  with  outstretched  arm  toward  Ma- 
dame Honorat,  who  was  standing  in  the  center  of 
the  apartment: 

"  1  do  not  want  her  either!  —  send  her  away!  —  I 
don't  want  to  see  her!  —  send  her  away!" 

Then  he  rushed  to  his  wife's  side,  took  her  in  his 
arms,  and  kissed  her  on  the  forehead:  "My  little 
Christiane,  be  calm!  What  is  the  matter  with  you? 
■ — come  now,  be  calm!" 

She  had  by  this  time  lost  the  power  of  raising 
her  voice.     The  tears  gushed  from  her  eyes. 

"Send  them  all  away,"  said  she,  "and  remain 
alone  with  me! " 

He  went  across,  in  a  distracted  frame  of  mind,  to 
the  doctor's  wife,  and  gently  pushing  her  toward  the 
door:  "Leave  us  for  a  few  minutes,  pray.  It  is  the 
fever — the  milk-fever.  I  will  calm  her.  I  will  look 
for  you  again  by  and  by." 

When  he  came  back  to  the  bedside  Christiane 
was  lying  down,  weeping  quietly,  without  moving 
in  any  way,  quite  prostrated. 

And  then,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  he,  too, 
began  to  weep. 

In  fact,  the  milk-fever  had  broken  out  during  the 
night,  and  delirium  supervened.  After  some  hours  of 
extreme  excitement,  the  recently  delivered  woman 
suddenly  began  to  speak. 

The  Marquis  and  Andermatt,  who  had  resolved  to 


^30  WORKS  OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 

remain  near  her,  and  who  passed  the  time  playing 
cards,  counting  the  tricks  in  hushed  tones,  imagined 
that  she  was  calling  them,  and,  rising  up,  approached 
the  bed.  She  did  not  see  them;  she  did  not  recog- 
nize them.  Intensely  pale,  on  her  white  pillow,  with 
her  fair  tresses  hanging  loose  over  her  shoulders,  she 
was  gazing,  with  her  clear  blue  eyes,  into  that  un- 
known, mysterious,  and  fantastic  world,  in  which 
dwell  the  insane. 

Her  hands,  stretched  over  the  bedclothes,  stirred 
now  and  then,  agitated  by  rapid  and  involuntary 
movements,  tremblings,  and  starts. 

She  did  not,  at  first,  appear  to  be  talking  to  any- 
one, but  to  be  seeing  things  and  telling  what  she 
saw.  And  the  things  she  said  seemed  disconnected, 
incomprehensible.  She  found  a  rock  too  high  to  jump 
off.  She  was  afraid  of  a  sprain,  and  then  she  was 
not  on  intimate  terms  enough  with  the  man  who 
reached  out  his  arms  toward  her.  Then  she  spoke 
about  perfumes.  She  was  apparently  trying  to  re- 
member some  forgotten  phrases.  "What  can  be 
sweeter.^  This  intoxicates  one  like  wine  —  wine  in- 
toxicates the  mind,  but  perfume  intoxicates  the  imagi- 
nation. With  perfume  you  taste  the  very  essence, 
the  pure  essence  of  things  and  of  the  universe  —  you 
taste  the  flowers  —  the  trees  —  the  grass  of  the  fields 
—  you  can  even  distinguish  the  soul  of  the  dwellings 
of  olden  days  which  sleeps  in  the  old  furniture,  the 
old  carpets,  and  the  old  curtains."  Then  her  face 
contracted  as  if  she  had  undergone  a  long  spell  of 
fatigue.  She  was  ascending  a  hillside  slowly,  heavily, 
and  was  saying  to  some  one:  "Oh!  carry  me  once 
more,  I  beg  of  you.     I  am   going  to  die  here!     I  can 


MONTORIOL  551 


:?;>' 


walk    no    farther.     Carry    me    as    you    did    above   the 
gorges.     Do  you   remember? — how   you   loved  me!" 

Then  she  uttered  a  cry  of  anguish  —  a  look  of 
horror  came  into  her  eyes.  She  saw  in  front  of  her 
a  dead  animal,  and  she  was  imploring  to  have  it 
taken  away  without  giving  her  pain.  The  Marquis 
said  in  a  whisper  to  his  son-in-law:  "She  is  think- 
ing about  an  ass  that  we  came  across  on  our  way 
back  from  La  Nugere."  And  now  she  was  address- 
ing this  dead  beast,  consoling  it,  telling  it  that  she, 
too,  was  very  unhappy,  because  she  had  been  aban- 
doned. 

Then,  on  a  sudden,  she  refused  to  do  something 
required  of  her.  She  cried:  "Oh!  no,  not  that! 
Oh!  it  is  you,  you  who  want  me  to  drag  this  cart!" 

Then  she  panted,  as  if  indeed  she  were  dragging 
a  vehicle  along.  She  wept,  moaned,  uttered  excla- 
mations, and  always,  during  a  period  of  half  an 
hour,  she  was  climbing  up  this  hillside,  dragging 
after  her  with  horrible  efforts  the  ass's  cart,  beyond 
a  doubt. 

And  some  one  was  harshly  beating  her,  for  she 
said:  "Oh!  how  you  hurt  me!  At  least,  don't  beat 
me!  1  will  walk  —  but  don't  beat  me  any  more,  I 
entreat  you!  I'll  do  whatever  you  wish,  but  don't 
beat  me  any  more! " 

Then  her  anguish  gradually  abated,  and  all  she  did 
was  to  go  on  quietly  talking  in  her  incoherent  fashion 
till  daybreak.  After  that,  she  became  drowsy,  and 
ended  by  going  to  sleep. 

Until  the  following  day,  however,  her  mental 
powers  remained  torpid,  somewhat  wavering,  fleeting. 
She  could  not  immediately  find  the  words  she  wanted, 


332 


WORKS   OF   GUY    DE   MAUPASSANT 


and  fatigued  herself  terribly  in  searching  for  them. 
But,  after  a  night  of  rest,  she  completely  regained 
possession  of  herself. 

Nevertheless,  she  felt  changed,  as  if  this  crisis  had 
transformed  her  soul.  She  suffered  less  and  thought 
more.  The  dreadful  occurrences,  really  so  recent, 
seemed  to  her  to  have  receded  into  a  past  already  far 
off;  and  she  regarded  them  with  a  clearness  of  con- 
ception with  which  her  mind  had  never  been  illumi- 
nated before.  This  light,  which  had  suddenly  dawned 
on  her  brain,  and  which  comes  to  certain  beings  in 
certain  hours  of  suffering,  showed  her  life,  men,  things, 
the  entire  earth  and  all  that  it  contains  as  she  had 
never  seen  them  before. 

Then,  more  than  on  the  evening  when  she  had 
felt  herself  so  much  alone  in  the  universe  in  her 
room,  after  her  return  from  the  lake  of  Tazenat,  she 
looked  upon  herself  as  utterly  abandoned  in  existence. 
She  realized  that  all  human  beings  walk  along  side 
by  side  in  the  midst  of  circumstances  without  any- 
thing ever  truly  uniting  two  persons  together.  She 
learned  from  the  treason  of  him  in  whom  she  had 
reposed  her  entire  confidence  that  the  others,  all  the 
others,  would  never  again  be  to  her  anything  but  in- 
different neighbors  in  that  journey  short  or  long,  sad 
or  gay,  that  followed  to-morrows  no  one  could  fore- 
see. 

She  comprehended  that  even  in  the  clasp  of  this 
man's  arms,  when  she  believed  that  she  was  intermin- 
gling with  him,  entering  into  him,  when  she  believed 
that  their  flesh  and  their  souls  had  become  only  one  flesh 
and  one  soul,  they  had  only  drawn  a  little  nearer  to 
one  another,  so  as  to  bring  into  contact   the  impene- 


MONT    ORIOL 


333 


trable  envelopes  in  which  mysterious  nature  has  iso- 
lated and  shut  up  each  human  creature.  And  she 
saw  as  well  that  nobody  has  ever  been  able,  or  ever 
will  be  able,  to  break  through  that  invisible  barrier 
which  places  living  beings  as  far  from  each  other  as 
the  stars  of  heaven.  She  divined  the  impotent  effort, 
ceaseless  since  the  first  days  of  the  world,  the  inde- 
fatifi^able  effort  of  men  and  women  to  tear  off  the 
sheath  in  which  their  souls  forever  imprisoned,  for- 
ever solitary,  are  struggling  —  an  effort  of  arms,  of 
lips,  of  eyes,  of  mouths,  of  trembling,  naked  flesh, 
an  effort  of  love,  which  exhausts  itself  in  kisses, 
to  finish  only  by  giving  life  to  some  other  forlorn 
being. 

Then  an  uncontrollable  desire  to  gaze  on  her 
daughter  took  possession  of  her.  She  asked  for  it, 
and  when  it  was  brought  to  her,  she  begged  to  have 
it  stripped,  for  as  yet  she  only  knew  its  face. 

The  wet-nurse  thereupon  unfastened  the  swad- 
dling-clothes, and  discovered  the  poor  little  body  of 
the  newborn  infant  agitated  by  those  vague  move- 
ments which  life  puts  into  these  rough  sketches  of 
humanity.  Christiane  touched  it  with  a  timid,  trem- 
bling hand,  then  wanted  to  kiss  the  stomach,  the 
back,  the  legs,  the  feet,  and  then  she  stared  at  the 
child  full  of  fantastic  thoughts. 

Two  beings  came  together,  loved  one  another 
with  rapturous  passion;  and  from  their  embrace,  this 
being  was  born.  It  was  he  and  she  intermingled; 
until  the  death  of  this  little  child,  it  was  he  and  she, 
living  again  both  together;  it  was  a  little  of  him,  and 
a  little  of  her,  with  an  unknown  something  which 
^"■^uld    make    it    different   from    them.     It   reproduced 


334 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


them  both  in  the  form  of  its  body  as  well  as  in  that 
of  its  mind,  in  its  features,  its  gestures,  its  eyes,  its 
movements,  its  tastes,  its  passions,  even  in  the  sound 
of  its  voice  and  its  gait  in  walking,  and  yet  it  would 
be  a  new  being! 

They  were  separated  now  —  he  and  she  —  forever! 
Never  again  would  their  eyes  blend  in  one  of  those 
outbursts  of  love  which  make  the  human  race  inde- 
structible. And  pressing  the  child  against  her  heart, 
she  murmured:  "Adieu!  adieu!"  It  was  to  him 
that  she  was  saying  "adieu"  in  her  baby's  ear,  the 
brave  and  sorrowing  "adieu"  of  a  woman  who 
would  yet  have  much  to  suffer,  always,  it  might  be, 
but  who  would  know  how  to  hide  her  tears. 

"Ha!  ha!"  cried  William  through  the  half-open 
door.  "1  catch  you  there!  Will  you  be  good  enough 
to  give  me  back  my  daughter?" 

Running  toward  the  bed,  he  seized  the  little  one 
in  his  hands  already  practiced  in  the  art  of  handling 
it,  and  lifting  it  over  his  head,  he  went  on  repeating: 
"Good  day.  Mademoiselle  Andermatt  —  good  da}^, 
Mademoiselle   Andermatt." 

Christiane  was  thinking:  "Here,  then,  is  my  hus- 
band!" 

And  she  contemplated  him,  with  eyes  as  aston- 
ished as  if  they  were  beholding  him  for  the  first 
time.  This  was  he,  the  man  who  ought  to  be,  ac- 
cording to  human  ideas  of  religion,  of  society,  the 
other  half  of  her  —  more  than  that,  her  master,  the 
master  of  her  days  and  of  her  nights,  of  her  heart 
and  of  her  body!  She  felt  almost  a  desire  to  smile, 
so  strange  did  this  appear  to  her  at  the  moment,  for 
between  her  and  him  no   bond  could  ever  exist,  none 


MONT    ORIOL 


^35 


of  those  bonds  alas!  so  quickly  broken,  but  which 
seem  eternal,  ineffably  sweet,  almost  divine. 

No  remorse  even  came  to  her  for  having  deceived 
him,  for  having  betrayed  him.  She  was  surprised  at 
this,  and  asked  herself  why  it  was.  Why  ?  No 
doubt,  there  was  too  great  a  difference  between 
them,  they  were  too  far  removed  from  one  another, 
of  races  too  widely  dissimilar.  He  did  not  understand 
her  at  all;  she  did  not  understand  him  at  all.  And 
yet  he  was  good,  devoted,  complaisant. 

But  only  perhaps  beings  of  the  same  shape,  of  the 
same  nature,  of  the  same  moral  essence  can  feel 
themselves  attached  to  one  another  by  the  sacred 
bond  of  voluntary  duty. 

They  dressed  the  baby  again.     William  sat  down. 

"Listen,  my  darling,"  said  he;  "1  don't  venture 
to  announce  Doctor  Black's  visit  to  you,  since  you 
have  been  so  nice  toward  myself.  There  is,  how- 
ever, one  person  whom  1  would  very  much  like  you 
to  see  —  I  mean  Doctor  Bonnefille." 

Then,  for  the  first  time,  she  laughed,  with  a  col- 
orless sort  of  laugh,  which  fixed  itself  on  her  lips, 
without  going  near  her  heart;  and  she  asked: 

"  Doctor  Bonnefille!  what  a  miracle!  So  then  you 
are  reconciled?" 

"Why,  yes!  Listen!  1  am  going  to  tell  you,  as 
a  secret,  a  great  bit  of  news.  1  have  just  bought  up 
the  old  establishment.  I  have  all  the  district  now. 
Hey!  what  a  victory.  That  poor  Doctor  Bonnefille 
knew  it  before  anybody,  be  it  understood.  So  then 
he  has  been  sly.  He  came  every  day  to  obtain  in- 
formation as  to  how  you  were,  leaving  his  card  with 
a   word   of  sympathy   written    on  it.     For  my  part,   1 


33^ 


WORKS   OF  GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


responded  to  these  advances  with  a  single   visit;    and 
at  present  we  are  on  excellent  terms." 

"Let  him  come,"  said  Christiane,  "whenever  he 
likes.     I  will  be  glad  to  see  him." 

"Good.  Thank  you.  I'll  bring  him  here  to  you  to- 
morrow morning.  I  need  scarcely  tell  you  that  Paul 
is  constantly  asking  me  to  convey  to  you  a  thousand 
compliments  from  him,  and  he  inquires  a  great  deal 
about  the  little  one.     He  is  very  anxious  to  see  her." 

In  spite  of  her  resolutions  she  felt  a  sense  of  op- 
pression. She  was  able,  however,  to  say:  "You  will 
thank  him  on  my  behalf." 

Andermatt  rejoined:  "He  was  very  uneasy  to  learn 
whether  you  had  been  told  about  his  intended  mar- 
riage. I  informed  him  that  you  had;  then  he  asked 
me  several  times  what  you  thought  about  it." 

She  exerted  her  strength  to  the  utmost,  and  felt 
able  to  murmur:  "You  will  tell  him  that  I  entirely 
approve  of  it." 

William,  with  cruel  persistency,  went  on:  "He 
wishes  also  to  know  for  certain  what  name  you  mean 
to  call  your  daughter.  I  told  him  we  were  hesitating 
between  Marguerite  and  Genevieve." 

"I  have  changed  my  mind,"  said  she.  "I  intend 
to  call  her  Arlette." 

Formerly,  in  the  early  days  of  her  pregnancy,  she 
had  discussed  with  Paul  the  name  which  they  ought 
to  select  whether  for  a  son  or  for  a  daughter;  and  for  a 
daughter  they  had  remained  undecided  between  Gene- 
vieve and  Marguerite.  She  no  longer  wanted  these 
two  names. 

William  repeated:  "Arlette!  Arlette!  That's  a  very 
nice    name  —  you    are    right.     For    my   part,   I   would 


MONT    ORIOL 


337 


have  liked   to   call    her    Christiane,  like   you.     1  adore 
that  name  —  Christiane!" 

She  sighed  deeply:  "Oh!  it  forebodes  too  much 
fuffering  to  bear  the  name  of  the  Crucified." 

He  reddened,  never  having  dreamed  of  this  com- 
parison, and  rising  up:  "Besides,  Arlette  is  very  nice. 
By-bye,  my  darling." 

As  soon  as  he  had  left  the  room,  she  called  the 
wet-nurse,  and  directed  her  for  the  future  to  place  the 
cradle  beside  the  bed. 

When  the  httle  couch  in  the  form  of  a  wherry, 
always  rocking,  and  carrying  its  white  curtain  like  a 
sail  on  its  mast  of  twisted  copper,  had  been  rolled 
close  to  the  big  bed,  Christiane  stretched  out  her  hand 
to  the  sleeping  infant,  and  she  said  in  a  very  hushed 
voice:  "Go  by-bye,  my  baby!  You  will  never  find 
anyone  who  will  love  you  as  much  as  I." 

She  passed  the  next  few  days  in  a  state  of  tran- 
quil melancholy,  thinking  a  great  deal,  building  up 
within  herself  a  resisting  soul,  an  energetic  heart,  in 
order  to  resume  her  life  again  in  a  few  weeks.  Her 
chief  occupation  now  consisted  in  gazing  into  the 
eyes  of  her  child,  seeking  to  surprise  in  them  a  first 
look,  but  only  seeing  there  two  little  bluish  caverns 
invariably  turned  townrd  the  sunlight  coming  in 
through  the  window. 

And  she  experienced  a  feeling  of  profound  sadness 
as  she  reflected  that  these  eyes  now  closed  in  sleep 
would  1  ok  out  on  the  world,  as  she  herself  had 
looked  on  it,  through  the  illusion  of  those  secret 
dreamings  which  make  the  souls  of  young  women 
trustful  and  joyous.  They  would  love  all  that  she  had 
loved,    the    beautiful    bright    days,    the    flowers,    the 

8    G.  de  M.— aa 


338  WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 

wood,  and  alas!  living  beings  too!  They  would,  no 
doubt,  love  a  man!  They  would  carry  in  their  depths 
his  image,  well  known,  cherished,  would  see  it  when 
he  would  be  far  away,  would  be  inflamed  on  seeing 
him  again.  And  then  —  and  then  they  would  learn  to 
weep!  Tears,  horrible  tears,  would  flow  over  these 
little  cheeks.  And  the  frightful  sufferings  of  love  be- 
trayed would  render  them  unrecognizable,  those  poor 
wandering  eyes  which  would  be  blue. 

And  she  wildly  embraced  the  child,  saying  to  it: 
"Love  me  alone,  my  child!" 

At  length,  one  day,  Professor  Mas-Roussel,  who 
came  every  morning  to  see  her,  declared:  "You  can 
soon  get  up  for  a  little,  Madame." 

Andermatt,  when  the  physician  had  left,  said  to 
his  wife:  "It  is  very  unfortunate  that  you  are  not 
quite  well,  for  we  have  a  very  interesting  experiment 
to-day  at  the  establishment.  Doctor  Latonne  has  per- 
formed a  real  miracle  with  Pere  Clovis  by  subjecting 
him  to  his  system  of  self-moving  gymnastics.  Just 
imagine!  This  old  vagabond  is  now  able  to  walk  as 
well  as  anyone.  The  progress  of  the  cure,  moreover, 
is  manifest  after  each  exhibition!" 

To  please  him,  she  asked:  "And  are  you  going 
to  have  a  public  exhibition?" 

"Yes,  and  no.  We  are  having  an  exhibition  be- 
fore the  medical  men  and  a  few  friends." 

"At  what   hour?" 

"Three  o'clock." 

"Will  M.   Bretigny  be  there?" 

"Yes,  yes.  He  promised  me  that  he  would  come 
to  it.  From  a  medical  point  of  view,  it  is  exceed- 
ingly curious." 


MONT    ORIOL 


339 


"Well,"  she  said,  "as  I'll  just  have  risen  myself 
at  that  time,  you  will  ask  M.  Bretigny  to  come  and 
see  me.  He  will  keep  me  company  while  you  are 
looking  at  the  experiment." 

"Yes,  my  darling." 

"  You  won't  forget?" 

"No,  no.     Make  your  mind  easy." 

And  he  went  otf  in  search  of  those  who  were  to 
witness  the  exhibition. 

After  having  been  imposed  upon  by  the  Oriols  at 
the  time  of  the  first  treatment  of  the  paralytic,  he  had 
in  his  turn  imposed  upon  the  credulity  of  invalids  —  so 
easy  to  get  the  better  of,  when  it  is  a  question  of 
curing.  And  now  he  imposed  upon  himself  with  the 
farce  of  this  cure,  talking  about  it  so  frequently,  with 
so  much  ardor  and  such  an  air  of  conviction  that  it 
would  have  been  hard  to  determine  whether  he  be- 
lieved or  disbelieved  in  it. 

About  three  o'clock,  all  the  persons  whom  he  had 
induced  to  attend  found  themselves  gathered  together 
before  the  door  of  the  establishment,  expecting  P6re 
Clovis's  arrival.  He  made  his  appearance,  leaning  on 
two  walking-sticks,  always  dragging  his  legs  after 
him,  and  bowing   politely  to   everyone  as   he  passed. 

The  two  Oriols  followed  him,  together  with  the 
two  young  girls.  Paul  and  Gontran  accompanied 
their  intended  wives. 

In  the  great  hall  where  the  articulated  instruments 
were  fixed.  Doctor  Latonne  was  waiting,  and  killed 
time  by  chatting  with  Andermatt  and  Doctor  Honorat. 

When  he  saw  Fere  Clovis,  a  smile  of  delight 
passed  over  his  clean-shaven  lips.  He  asked:  "Well! 
how  are  we  going  on   to-day?" 


340 


WORKS   OF   GUY   DE   MAUPASSANT 


"Oh!  all  right,  all  right." 

Petrus  Martel  and  Saint  Landri  presented  them- 
selves. They  wanted  to  satisfy  their  minds.  The 
first  believed;  the  second  doubted.  Behind  them, 
people  saw  with  astonishment  Doctor  Bonnefille  com- 
ing up,  saluting  his  rival,  and  extending  his  hand 
toward  Andermatt.  Doctor  Black  was  the  last  to 
arrive. 

"Well,  Messieurs  and  Mesdemoiselles,"  said  Doc- 
tor Latonne,  as  he  bowed  to  Louise  and  Charlotte 
Oriol,  "you  are  going  to  witness  a  very  curious 
phenomenon.  Observe  first,  before  the  experiment, 
this  worthy  fellow  walking  a  little,  but  very  little. 
Can  you  walk  without  your  sticks,  Pere  Clovis?" 

"Oh!  no,  Mochieu!" 

"Good,  then  let  us  begin." 

The  old  fellow  was  hoisted  on  the  armchair;  his 
legs  were  strapped  to  the  movable  feet  of  the  sitting- 
machine;  then,  at  the  command  of  the  inspector: 
"Go  quietly!"  the  attendant,  with  bare  arms,  turned 
the  handle. 

Thereupon,  the  right  knee  of  the  vagabond  was 
seen  rising  up,  stretching  out,  bending,  then  moving 
forward  again;  after  that,  the  left  knee  did  the  same; 
and  Pere  Clovis,  seized  with  a  sudden  delight,  began 
to  laugh,  while  he  repeated  with  his  head  and  his 
long,  white  beard  all  the  movements  imposed  on  his 
legs. 

The  four  physicians  and  Andermatt,  stooping  over 
him,  examined  him  with  the  gravity  of  augurs,  while 
Colosse  exchanged  sly  winks  with  the  old  chap. 

As  the  door  had  been  left  open,  other  persons 
kept    constantly    crowding    in,    and     convinced     and 


MONT    ORIOL 


341 


anxious  bathers  pressed  forward  to  behold  the  ex- 
periment. 

"Quicker!"  said  Doctor  Latonne;  and,  in  obedi- 
ence to  his  command,  the  man  who  worked  the 
handle  turned  it  with  greater  energy.  The  old  fel- 
low's legs  began  to  go  at  a  running  pace,  and  he, 
seized  with  irresistible  gaiety,  like  a  child  being 
tickled,  laughed  as  loudly  as  ever  he  could,  moving 
his  head  about  wildly.  And,  in  the  midst  of  his 
peals  of  laughter,  he  kept  repeating:  "What  a 
rigolo!  what  a  rigolo!"  having,  no  doubt,  picked  up 
this  word  from  the  mouth  of  some  foreigner. 

Colosse,  in  his  turn,  broke  out,  and,  stamping  on 
the  ground  with  his  foot  and  striking  his  thighs 
with  his  hands,  he  exclaimed:  "Ha!  bougrrre  of  a 
Cloviche!  bougrrre  of  a  Cloviche!" 

"Enough!"  was  the  inspector's  next  command. 

The  vagabond  was  unfastened,  and  the  physicians 
drew  apart  in  order  to  verify  the  result. 

Then  Pere  Clovis  was  seen  rising  from  the  arm- 
chair, stepping  on  the  ground,  and  walking.  H« 
proceeded  with  short  steps,  it  was  true,  quite  bent, 
and  grimacing  from  fatigue  at  every  eflFort,  but  still 
he  walked! 

Doctor  Bonnefille  was  the  first  to  declare:  "This 
is  quite  a  remarkable  case!"  Doctor  Black  immedi- 
ately improved  upon  his  brother-physician.  Doctor 
Honorat,  alone,  said  nothing. 

Gontran  whispered  in  Paul's  ear:  "I  don't  under- 
stand. Look  at  their  heads.  Are  they  dupes  or 
humbugs?" 

But  Andermatt  was  speaking.  He  told  the  history 
of  this   cure  since   the  first  day,  the  relapse,  and  the 


342 


WORKS  OF  GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 


final  recovery  which  was  declared  to  be  settled  and 
absolute. 

He  gaily  added;  "If  our  patient  goes  back  a 
little  every  winter,  we'll  cure  him  again  every  sum- 
mer." 

Then  he  pompously  eulogized  the  waters  of  Mont 
Oriol,  extolled  their  properties,  all  their  properties: 

"For  my  own  part,"  said  he;  "1  have  had  a 
proof  of  their  efficacy  in  the  case  of  a  being  who  is 
very  dear  to  me;  and,  if  my  family  is  not  extinct,  it 
is  to  Mont  Oriol  that  I  will  owe  it." 

But,  all  at  once,  he  had  a  flash  of  recollection. 
He  had  promised  his  wife  a  visit  from  Paul  Bretigny. 
He  was  filled  with  regret  for  his  forgetfulness,  as  he 
was  most  anxious  to  gratify  her  every  wish.  Accord- 
ingly he  glanced  around  him,  espied  Paul,  and  com- 
ing up  to  him:  "My  dear  friend,  I  completely 
forgot  to  tell  you  that  Christiane  is  expecting  you  at 
this  moment." 

Bretigny  said  falteringly:  "Me  —  at  this  moment?" 

"Yes,  she  has  got  up  to-day;  and  she  desires  to 
see  you  before  anyone.  Hurry  then  as  quickly  as 
possible,  and  excuse  me." 

Paul  directed  his  steps  toward  the  hotel,  his  heart 
throbbing  with  emotion.  On  his  way  he  met  the 
Marquis  de  Ravenel,  who  said  to  him: 

"  My  daughter  is  up,  and  is  surprised  at  not  hav- 
ing seen  you  yet." 

He  halted,  however,  on  the  first  steps  of  the 
staircase  in  order  to  consider  what  he  would  say  to 
her.  How  would  she  receive  him  ?  Would  she  be 
alone  ?  If  she  spoke  about  his  marriage,  what  reply 
should  he  make? 


MONTORiOL  343 

Since  he  had  heard  of  her  confinement,  he  could 
not  think  about  her  without  groaning,  so  uneasy  did 
he  feel;  and  the  thought  of  their  first  meeting,  every 
time  it  floated  through  his  mind,  made  him  suddenly 
redden  or  grow  pale  with  anguish.  He  had  also 
thought  with  deep  anxiety  of  this  unknown  child,  of 
which  he  was  the  father;  and  he  remained  harassed 
by  a  desire  to  see  it,  mingled  with  a  dread  of  look- 
ing at  it.  He  felt  himself  sunk  in  one  of  those  moral 
foulnesses  which  stain  a  man's  conscience  up  to  the 
hour  of  his  death.  But  he  feared  above  all  the  glance 
of  this  woman,  for  whom  his  love  had  been  so  fierce 
and  so  short-lived. 

Would  she  meet  him  with  reproaches,  with  tears, 
or  with  disdain  ?  Would  she  receive  him,  only  to 
drive  him  away  ? 

And  what  attitude  ought  he  to  assume  toward 
her?  Humble,  crushed,  suppliant,  or  cold?  Should 
he  explain  himself  or  should  he  listen  without  reply- 
ing?   Ought  he  to  sit  down  or  to    remain   standing? 

And  when  the  child  was  shown  to  him,  what 
should  he  do?  What  should  he  say?  With  what 
feeling  should  he  appear  to  be  agitated  ? 

Before  the  door  he  stopped  again,  and  at  the  mo- 
ment when  he  was  on  the  point  of  ringing,  he  no- 
ticed that  his  hand  was  trembling.  However,  he 
placed  his  finger  on  the  little  ivory  button,  and  he 
heard  the  sound  of  the  electric  bell  coming  from  the 
interior  of  the  apartment. 

A  female  servant  opened  the  door,  and  admitted 
him.  And,  at  the  drawing-room  door,  he  saw  Chris- 
tiane,  at  the  end  of  the  second  room,  lying  on  her 
long  chair  with  her  eyes  fixed  upon  him. 


344  WORKS  OF  GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 

These  two  rooms  seemed  to  him  interminable  as  he 
was  passing  through  them.  He  felt  himself  tottering. 
He  was  afraid  of  knocking  against  the  seats,  and  he 
did  not  venture  to  look  down  toward  his  feet  in  or- 
der to  avoid  lowering  his  eyes.  She  did  not  make  a 
single  gesture,  or  utter  a  single  word.  She  waited 
till  he  was  dose  beside  her.  Her  right  hand  re- 
mained stretched  out  over  her  robe  and  her  left 
leaned  over  the  side  of  the  cradle,  covered  all  round 
with  its  curtains. 

When  he  was  three  paces  away  from  her  he 
stopped,  not  knowing  what  best  to  do.  The  cham- 
bermaid had  closed  the  door  after  him. 

They  were  alone  1 

Then,  he  felt  a  longing  to  sink  upon  his  knees, 
and  implore  her  pardon.  But  she  slowly  raised  the 
hand  which  had  rested  on  her  robe,  and,  extending  it 
slightly  toward  him,  said,  "Good  day,"  in  a  grave 
tone. 

He  did  not  venture  to  touch  her  fingers,  which, 
however,  he  brushed  with  his  lips,  while  he  bowed 
to  her. 

She  added:  "Sit  down."  And  he  sat  down  oil 
a  lower  chair,  close  to  her  feet. 

He  felt  that  he  ought  to  speak,  but  he  could  not 
find  a  word  or  an  idea,  and  he  dared  not  even  look 
at  her.  However,  he  ended  by  stammering  out: 
"Your  husband  forgot  to  let  me  know  that  you  were 
waiting  for  me;  but  for  that,  I  would  have  come 
sooner." 

She  replied:  "Oh!  it  matters  little,  since  we 
were  bound  to  see  one  another  again  —  a  little  sooner 
—  a  little  later  1" 


MONTORIOL  ^4S 

As  she  added  nothing  more,  he  hastened  to  say 
in  an  inquiring  tone:  "I  hope  you  are  getting  on 
well  by  this  time?" 

"Thanks.  As  well  as  one  can  get  on,  after  such 
shocks! " 

She  was  very  pale  and  thin,  but  prettier  than  be- 
fore her  confinement.  Her  eyes  especially  had  gained 
a  depth  of  expression  which  he  had  never  seen  in 
them  before.  They  seemed  to  have  acquired  a  darker 
shade,  a  blue  less  clear,  less  transparent,  more  in- 
tense. Her  hands  were  so  white  that  their  flesh 
looked  like  that  of  a  corpse. 

She  went  on:  "Those  are  hours  very  hard  to  live 
through.  But,  when  one  has  suffered  thus,  one  feels 
strong  till  the  end  of  one's  days." 

Much  affected,  he  murmured:  "Yes;  they  are 
terrible  experiences!" 

She  repeated,  like  an  echo:     "Terrible." 

For  some  moments  there  had  been  light  move- 
ments in  the  cradle  —  the  all  but  imperceptible  sounds 
of  an  infant  awakening  from  sleep.  Bretigny  could  not 
longer  avert  his  gaze,  preyed  upon  by  a  melancholy, 
morbid  yearning  which  gradually  grew  stronger,  tor- 
tured by  the  desire  to  behold  what  lived  within 
there. 

Then  he  observed  that  the  curtains  of  the  tiny 
bed  were  fastened  from  top  to  bottom  with  the  gold 
pins  which  Christiane  was  accustomed  to  wear  in 
her  corsage.  Often  had  he  amused  himself  in  bygone 
days  by  taking  them  out  and  pinning  them  again  on 
the  shoulders  of  his  beloved,  those  fine  pins  with 
crescent-shaped  heads.  He  understood  what  she 
meant;    and    a    poignant    emotion    seized    him,    made 


346  WORKS  OF   GUY   DE  MAUPASSANT 

him  feel  shriveled  up  before  this  barrier  of  golden 
spikes   which   forever   separated   him   from  this  child. 

A  little  cry,  a  shrill  plaint  arose  in  this  white 
prison.  Christiane  quickly  rocked  the  wherry,  and 
in  a  rather  abrupt  tone: 

"I  must  ask  your  pardon  for  allowing  you  so 
little  time;  but  1  must  look  after  my  daughter," 

He  rose,  and  once  more  kissed  the  hand  which 
she  extended  toward  him;  and,  as  he  was  on  the 
point  of  leaving,  she  said: 

"  I  pray  that  you  may  be  happy." 


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